The Blood and Heart of Gaea :2nd Edition
by Ayeka Penor
Summary: An attempt is made on Van's life and Hitomi finds herself back on Gaea! Now, what does an energist that grants wishes have to do with people from the Mystic Moon? And who controls this energist? COMPLETE
1. Black in Back

::Okay, this is **_really_** The Heart and Blood of Gaea 2nd Edition. I wrote this story years ago and posted it as my first fic on ff.net…but all at once. Not that many people were interested in reading a fic that took 56 pages in one shot, and I didn't get as much feedback as I'd hoped since I considered this my pride and joy. 

This time, I'm replacing it with re-worked chapters around nine or ten pages long. Please do flame me, or whine and complain, it helps me to improve.

Sometimes Hitomi Kanzaki would get caught staring off into the sky, as if she was trying to see something she knew to be there. Her parents were concerned, because ever since her best friend Yukari went to England with Amano, Hitomi seemed to have lost her motivation. She constantly daydreamed in class, and could be found on most clear nights on the roof, watching the sky. At first they thought it was just a phase, she was a fifteen-year-old girl whose best friend just moved away. When graduation came around, Hitomi was still in a slump. Her grades stayed respectable, and she got a scholarship to Boston University for track, which is where the story continues. 

Hitomi looked at the clock above the door and sighed. Five more minutes, just five more minutes and she could go to the track. She pinched herself for being so easily distracted and tried to pay attention to what the professor was saying. Then her concentration slipped again and she was staring out the window at the sky. 

With her newfound fascination in the nighttime sky, she'd decided to go with astronomy. Then she'd started to wonder about how she would spend her life. She was still staring out the window when the boy next to her leapt to his feet as he slammed hiss book shut. Hitomi jumped and realized she'd missed half the lecture. Silently berating herself for daydreaming—again—she rushed for the door. The professor tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to follow him. 

She nervously waited in front of his podium as the other students left. Had he noticed her lack of attention? Was he going to reprimand her for her laziness? Or was it that her latest paper about supernovas had been particularly bad?

Doctor Grebe leaned on the podium as he did during class and tapped his fingers together, looking intently at her face. "Miss Kanzaki, I'm well aware that you had a tough time your freshman year adjusting to the States, but I've noticed that you remain detached from the rest of the student body as well as from class."

Hitomi blushed, so he had noticed. Then he went on. "You see, I've noticed your lack of attention in class, but you have been able to convey such a passion for astronomy in your assignments…" It was hardly the kind of talk Hitomi had been expecting, but she accepted his praise graciously and was about to dismiss herself when he handed her a pamphlet. "Here," he said, "this is an invitation to an astronomy club meeting out of town, a place in the suburbs. There's only about ten other members right now, but I think you'll enjoy our meetings."

She accepted the invitation and half ran out of the building. The invitation went into the nearest trashcan, and she speed walked to the student parking lot. Her only friend on campus, Lisa Grout, was leaning against the hood of a beat up Toyota, waiting. "Well? What kept you?" she asked.

Hitomi pointed over her shoulder. "The Professor wanted me to go on some astronomy club field trip."

Lisa narrowed her pale, blue eyes at Hitomi. "You didn't say 'no,' did you?"

"No, but I threw the invitation away. If I'm going to look at the sky, it's going to be on a night with a full moon—" she barely caught herself before she said, 'to see if I can find Gaea.' In the five years since her fateful trip, she had yet to convince herself that she would never see her friends again. Not Yukari and Amano, but Millerna, Allen, even the cat-girl Merle. But most of all, she missed Van. 

Since she left Gaea the last time, she'd tried to get back once. She had just won the finals for the hundred-meter dash back in Japan, and was catching her breath when she realized no one she cared about was there to congratulate her. Her parents had been unable to make it, and her little brother, Yoii, had been at a friend's house all day. Amano had left for England, with Yukari not far behind. She'd been hit with an overwhelming wave of loneliness, and had dashed out of the stadium to stand outside with her tears. Then she'd wished furiously to go back to Gaea, back to Van and the others, but nothing had happened. A single white feather had floated down out of nowhere to land on her shoe and disappear. The feathers always made her feel better, they reminded her that despite the distance between them she and Van would never be lost to one another.

Lisa raised and eyebrow at Hitomi's sudden stop, then shrugged and opened the driver side door. "C'mon, get in. If we hurry, we can still get in about three laps before everyone else arrives."

One of the key factors in their tentative friendship was that they both took classes in the same building at the end of the day, and were hopelessly devoted to track. So far, they'd won almost every event they participated in. Even though they were only sophomores, they were on the varsity track team, and were unbeatable at relay races, no matter who else was on their team. Hitomi knew that there was something in Lisa's past that made her want to run away—like her. It forced them to break records and win.

In addition to their track practices, they ran around the block their apartment was on for twenty minutes each evening and morning. They couldn't spare any more time than that, because in addition to school and track, they had part time jobs to help pay the rent. In the locker room, Lisa tied back her long, brown hair and checked her shoelaces. "Let's go!" she said. The only time anyone in the student body could ever say they've seen the two roommates truly happy, is when they're racing and breathless with the effort. 

After practice, they dashed off to the showers and drove to work. At home that evening, they were studying for a math quiz when the phone rang. Lisa picked up the phone and handed it to Hitomi, who gave her an exasperated look and took the receiver. "Hello?" she said.

"Konnichi-wa, Hitomi!" Hitomi gasped at the familiar voice. 

"Hi, Mom!" she said, switching to Japanese. "How is everyone? Why'd you call?"

There was a pause on the other side of the line. "Hitomi, for winter vacation, we decided to come visit you instead of you coming back over here. Would that be Okay? Your father and I would like a chance to see the campus, and Yoii wants to see Boston."

Hitomi was surprised. Her parents had wanted her to stay in Japan for college, but when the scholarship was offered, it was an opportunity too good to miss. They worked out a time and rendezvous point at Logan Airport, and Hitomi helped make lodging arrangements. "I still can't quite get used to the idea that my family is coming over. I mean, we haven't been very close for a while now, and they hardly ever call." 

Lisa stared at Hitomi, the girl was babbling again. Why was she so nervous? It was just her immediate family.

"I never write, I can't afford to call more than once a month or so. The apartment isn't exactly big, and I haven't won any awards or have any big competitions coming up, because it's winter, you know… And furthermore—"

"Will you get a hold of yourself?" Lisa said, "Stop babbling and help me take this stuff downstairs."

~Gaea~

Van Slanzar de Fanel sat in the formal throne room, wearing much grander clothes than he personally cared for. The reigning king of Basram had decided his three younger daughters could profit from traveling abroad. Van didn't for a second doubt what the man's real hopes were, but he just couldn't find himself making any of them his queen. They all seemed so…so…dim. The eldest of the three had no common sense, the middle one laughed at all the wrong times much too loudly, and the youngest fainted every time she had to talk to him. He pitied the poor men their father would eventually sucker into marrying them.

"So, Your Majesty, we shall be on our way," the kneeling guard said before him. He was the one in charge of the princesses' safety as they traveled. 

Van nodded his head and said, "I wish you all a safe journey and good luck."

The guard bowed and left. The princesses curtsied low, murmured their thanks for his hospitality, and followed. Van sighed and slumped down in his throne the moment they were gone. Then the main doors opened and Merle ran in. "Lord Van! They've left! Pleeeaaase tell me they've gone for good?" She rushed over to him and he stood.

"Yeah, they've just left."

"Yay!" the cat-girl said. She leapt onto the vacated throne and raised a hand to her mouth. Finding it covered with bandaging, she hissed and sulked. "Why do I have to wear these stupid things? They're such a pain."

Van laughed. "Merle, if I ever hold court you'll have to be able to control yourself and act like—dare I say it—a…"

"Don't!" she screeched and she covered her large, pointy ears with her hands. 

"…lady!" Van finished. Merle winced and shifted position so she sat in the throne correctly. "Much better. You know, Merle, I could find someone else to be hostess, you could go back to being you." The offer was meant to hit Merle at a weak spot, her pride.

It worked. Merle sat straight up, stiff as a board, and held her nose in the air as she said, "I couldn't stand that! No more women in this castle! _I'm_ the lady of the house!" _Nothing like a subtle jab to reinforce one's resolve_, Van thought. One of many lessons he'd learned from Balgus, his sword master and teacher. The thought of the long dead soldier brought back the memories following Balgus' death.

First, the beam of blue light that had taken him and Hitomi away from Fanalia…_Hitomi_. How he missed her. Van removed the pendent from underneath his shirt and looked at it. There was a gentle tug in his chest, the soft ache that he always felt when he saw the pendent. He looked up at the sky, at the Mystic Moon hanging like a misty globe in the sky, and sighed. _Oh, Hitomi, are you ever going to come back?_

~Earth~

"Hitomi!" a voice called. Hitomi scanned the crowd to her left and saw her father's waving hand. She rushed over and gave her family all hugs, even her little brother, who wasn't so little anymore. 

"Awe, Hitomi, quit it!" he mumbled. She let Yoii go and looked him straight in the eye. "It's not fair, I should be taller!" he whined. Hitomi chuckled and smiled at them. Her family; her mother, father and brother, were here in Boston!

"Let's go claim your bags," she said, gesturing for them to follow her. "Then I'll take you to the hotel." They followed her silently, and Hitomi found herself so excited that she missed the depressed atmosphere around the three people following her. It took only a few minutes to find the right bags, then they caught a cab and went to the Marriott Hotel. 

Her father checked them in, his English so perfect that Hitomi was envious. Then she reminded herself that he'd been alive longer and had more practice using it than she. Her parents and brother shared a room with two, full sized beds. "How long are you staying? You could stay for a year with all this," Hitomi gestured to the bags and suitcases piled on the beds.

Mrs. Kanzaki smiled. "Well, you know how I like to be prepared." 

Hitomi shook her head in mock disbelief. "How stupid of me! I forgot that you brought two pack horses with you!" Yoii chucked a pillow at her with a laugh and she jumped out of the way. 

Her father just smiled at the joke and asked, "How's track coming along? I know that it's winter, but you've got to stay in shape to keep that scholarship!" _Or I'll be going home_, Hitomi finished for him. After all this time, they really thought she'd be so lax as to fall out of shape and lose the scholarship? Well, in her parents' eyes, she had been acting kind of lazy after her trip to Gaea. Daydreaming, or staring at nothing, just doing a lot of resting except for school and track.

Once they were settled in, Hitomi left to let them get some rest. It had been a long trip from Japan, and it was well past nine at night in Boston. She went home and smiled with contentment as she went to sleep. Lisa paused in passing Hitomi's room on her way to the bathroom to see her fellow track star sleeping with a smile on her face. Lisa grinned and whispered to herself, "I guess family does help you get over Gaea—if you have any."

The next morning was a Saturday, and after her habitual run and shower, Hitomi packed a cooler and backpack with picnic supplies. She stopped by at a deli on her way to the Marriott for sandwiches. Her mother opened the door at her knock and helped her rearrange the cooler so everything fit. Then the older woman added a few things to Hitomi's backpack. "What did I miss?" Hitomi asked.

Mrs. Kanzaki named each item as she placed it in the bag. "Insect repellant, extra room key, paper towels, Band-Aids, antibiotic ointment, bug bite treatment…"

"We aren't going camping! Why do we need all that stuff? It's just a picnic!" Hitomi said. Mrs. Kanzaki ignored her daughter and continued to stuff non-essentials into the bag. With an exaggerated sigh, Hitomi picked up the backpack and said, "Let's go."

They chose a nice spot in a park Hitomi had frequented since her arrival in Boston. Instead of immediately serving the food, they all sat on the blanket, catching up. Hitomi was reaching for her soda when she was suddenly confronted by a vision. The last one had been of Van, rebuilding Fanalia and directing workers and soldiers. It had been a very heartening vision. This one wasn't. She saw an older Van, taller, wider in the shoulders. He was talking with someone wearing work clothes when a black arrow crossed her field of vision to skewer Van in the center of his chest. 

~Gaea~

"Then move this fence further over to the side here, and we can build the wall along it here, and the end will reach the ledge," Van said to Master Yuri. The disgruntled architect mulled over Van's proposition and nodded. 

"Yes, that makes sense, but can I keep it a meter high at that length with my materials?" Master Yuri asked.

Van frowned at the paper. "I think so…" Then there was a sharp twang and Van instinctively shoved the architect to the ground. An arrow whizzed past to imbed itself in a nearby fence post. A moment later, another followed. It hit him in the arm and he pulled it out. Van clenched his teeth and rolled off Master Yuri since the assassin was no doubt aiming for him. As he rolled, an arrow hit him in the thigh. He had too much momentum to stop, so it got ripped out instead of breaking off. He gasped in pain, and yet another black arrow hit him. It stopped deep in his back. 

The King of Fanalia stopped rolling, and lay on the ground, still. A black booted foot tapped him. He didn't stir. A feminine hand reached down and yanked out the arrow from his back roughly. Van didn't even moan.

There was a sharp intake of breath, the assassin turned to face Master Yuri. "What have you done?!" the man cried. His voice broke off and a gurgling sound took over. He sank to the ground, a black arrow through his throat.

It was only ten minutes later that Mrs. Yuri found them. She screamed and ran back to the house, where the Lady Merle was having tea. Merle dropped the delicate cup and ran on hands and feet, tearing her dress, and looking more like a circus tiger than a young woman who'd just been having biscuits.

She stopped next to Van, and knelt beside him. "Lord Van?" she said. He didn't answer. "_Lord Van!"_ she screeched. His eyelids fluttered. "Lord Van?!" she whisper-screamed.

"Hitomi…" Van rasped. Merle's tears welled up.

"She's not here, Lord Van, she went back home, remember? Oh, Lord Van, don't speak, I'm gonna get you help." Merle spun around. "Mrs. Yuri! Go fetch a healer!" The plump woman ran off towards the town, but Merle knew that quite a bit of time had already passed, precious minutes. "Oh God, oh God, oh God!" she kept repeating. The sorrow in Van's eyes was enough to make Merle yearn for the one person she knew Van wanted to see the most. "_HITOMI!_"

~Earth~

"Hitomi? Hitomi, are you all right?" Her mother's voice brought her out of the vision.

"Oh, oh no, _Van!_" Hitomi cried. She covered her face with her hands, hoping to dash the unpleasant vision from existence. 

"Hitomi! What's wrong?" Yoii asked, his hands trying to pull hers from her face.

"It's Van! Someone's going to kill Van! NOOOOOOO!" she cried. Then the pillar of light came down through the trees and enveloped Hitomi's family. They stared in wonder and astonishment as they slowly rose from their picnic blanket and shot up into the sky. 

~Gaea~

As Merle's scream died away a beam of pure blue light came down from the sky. She stared in awe as several people came down to land on the ground a few feet away. Then another glow caught her eye and she turned back to Van. Hitomi's pendent, which he'd worn for the past five years, was glowing. Then she heard a sob and she looked up. "Hitomi!" she said, and she jumped up.

Hitomi fell to her knees by Van's side and tears ran down her cheeks to form dark spots  on his red shirt. "Van?" she said in a whisper. Her hand hovered over him, as if she dared not to touch him. "Van?" she said again. This time she actually touched him. Then her hands started to hurriedly check his wounds. She quickly located the tare in his leg, and the arm wound, but very little blood came from the back wound where the bleeding should have been the worst.

She frowned and looked around the area, her eyes resting on Merle. "Merle, quick, tear some strips from your skirt so I can bind Van's leg and arm." The cat-girl reduced the rest of her skirt to tatters and helped Hitomi wrap up Van's arm and leg. Then Hitomi carefully examined Van's back, and bit her lip. "Merle, do you think, well, that his wings could've gotten in the way?"

Merle looked at the wound, and gulped. "I guess, but, what's wrong with him? If he didn't lose enough blood to pass out, why's he unconscious?" Then she sat up and looked around. "And where's that healer?!"

Hitomi did her best to patch up his back, she couldn't tell how deep it had been, and wiped the hair out of his eyes. _My he's grown handsome_, Hitomi thought. Van's hair was as long as before, falling into his eyes. He'd grown, but he looked much paler than he had in her vision. Then movement in the corner of her eye caused Hitomi to turn. 

She gasped and gently lay down Van's head before rushing over to check on her family. "Mom, Dad, Yoii, are you alright?" Her family was lying on the ground among the remains of their picnic. Mrs. Kanzaki sat up slowly and rubbed her temples. Her husband straightened himself out and lay on his back, but Yoii jumped up and nearly fell over. "Easy there," Hitomi said as she steadied him. 

Yoii looked around and frowned. "Where are we?" he asked. Hitomi ignored the question and told him to start picking up their stuff, which was scattered all over the ground. Grudgingly he agreed and Hitomi went back to check on Van.

He was sweating, and his breathing was bad. She touched his forehead and gasped. The arrows had been poisoned! "Oh, hurry up," she whispered to no one in particular. Her father stood up and helped her mom rise to her feet. They then bent over to help Yoii in a sort of daze. "What am I going to do about them?" Hitomi wondered aloud. Then she heard shouting and turned to see Merle badgering a rather round woman carrying a basket under one arm. 

The woman knelt by Van's side, out of breath, and examined the arrow Hitomi held out to her. The healer sniffed them and started rummaging through the items in her basket. Merle, curious as ever, sniffed the arrow too and sneezed. "Here, put this against his wounds while I mix an antidote," the woman said. Hitomi took the offered leaves and carefully placed them against Van's skin under the bandages. A very excruciating two minutes later, the healer had finished mixing the simple antidote and was coaxing it down Van's throat.

"Come on, Van, drink it," Hitomi said. She held his hand in hers, more for her own comfort than his since she was sure he wasn't conscious. He swallowed and Hitomi and Merle and the healing woman sighed in relief. 

"Who is that?" asked a voice behind Hitomi. She jumped and turned to see Yoii leaning over her, peering at Van. 

Merle hissed at him and said, "And just who are you? Did you see who did this to Lord Van?"

Yoii looked at Merle and blinked in surprise. Hitomi stood and said, "Yoii, this is Merle. Merle, my younger brother Yoii." She didn't want to introduce Van to him as 'the guy lying on the ground' and held back on the formal introduction.

Merle stood up and said, "We need to get Lord Van back to the castle." Hitomi nodded and went to her parents who stood nearby, watching. It took both Yoii and her father to carry Van back on the primitive stretcher they made. The guards at the gate opened the doors and rushed around calling for assistance. Hitomi looked around herself in amazement. Fanalia had almost been completely rebuilt. People were carrying on business in the city, milling around the castle on various chores, but the castle's staff seemed to leap into panicked action when they saw their sovereign lying prone with arrow wounds.

The castle's own healers looked Van over and complimented the healing woman's quick remedy. They rebound his wounds, lay him on his bed, closed the doors, and said no one but a healer should interrupt Van's rest for the next few days while he fought off the poison. Hitomi could remember occasions during the war when every one of Van's allies would stand by his side to cheer on his recovery.

At a loss for what to do, Hitomi asked Merle where she and her family should go until Van got better. Merle's eyes flashed and she said, "Well, you always could go into town and stay at an inn, but they don't accept money from the Mystic Moon. I guess I'll just have to find somewhere in the castle for you to stay. Come on, this way."

For a moment Hitomi thought Merle was going to be as much of a pain as she'd been when Hitomi was on Gaea last. Then the cat-girl's (really almost cat-woman's) quick lapse into courtesy brought about a much more favorable result. Merle showed Hitomi and the family to three rooms near her own, and not too far from Van's room. Merle then got a good look at her guests and said, "I'll send someone over to fit you for some _normal_ clothes soon. Bye-bye!" Then she closed the door and rushed to her own room to change out of the tattered remains of her dress.

Hitomi sat down with a sigh and looked up to see her family calmly waiting for an explanation. "Okay, I'll explain, just sit own, this could take a while." Then she described the whole chain of events that had occurred all those years ago. The blue light on the racetrack, the visions, the tarot card readings and why she didn't do them anymore. Her family listened with rapt attention, her parents frowning once in a while as if they disagreed with their daughter having been exposed to such atrocities. Yoii was fascinated. 

She gave them a slightly edited version, of course. For one thing, she left out most of her feelings for Alan and Van, and didn't mention Alan's proposal of marriage. It was dark when she finished. They had taken a break when the seamstress's came in with Merle to take their measurements and pin and poke at them. Merle enjoyed teasing Hitomi about how much weight she'd put on while away, when it was obvious there wasn't a spare ounce on her body. If anything, Hitomi's increased training had made her physically stronger, toning her body and bringing out her curves. When they'd left, Merle had stayed behind to interrupt when she thought Hitomi had missed something. 

Dinner was brought to them, and they talked through the meal. When they finished, ending with Hitomi revealing to her family how she hadn't actually lost her grandmother's pendant, but gave it to Van, Merle was snoozing in a chair. Yoii yawned and stretched. "That makes a nice campfire story, Hitomi, but right now, I think we'd better go to sleep. That Dornkirk guy was really Sir Isaac Newton? Ouch." Hitomi poked Merle awake and they went to their rooms for sleep.

The next day the Kanzaki family's new clothes arrived. Hitomi almost laughed at her brother's expression when he saw her wearing a traditional dress. Then he looked almost sad and said, "All this time, you've kept this place a secret. Now, I see you dressed like that and I realize I don't really know who you are anymore."

The admission was deep, and Hitomi gave him a reassuring hug and said, "Don't worry, I'm still me, except now I don't have many secrets left for you to discover." She sighed dramatically. "I guess you'll have to find another hobby." Yoii let out a bark of laughter and pinched her arm.

"Yeah right, there's still plenty you didn't tell us, but I'm patient." His eyes sparkled with anticipation. Hitomi inwardly groaned, but kept the smile on her face. Then Merle came bounding down the hall.

She came to a stop in front of Hitomi. "He's awake!" she said, smiling and excited. Hitomi followed her down the hall to Van's room. The doors were open, and a healer was just coming out. She saw them and barely had time to get out of the way before Merle rushed through the door. Hitomi followed at a brisk walk instead of a dead run and smiled timidly at the startled nurse. 

Then she saw Merle kneeling by the side of a big four-poster bed. "We were so worried, Lord Van," she was saying. Van was sitting up, with a mound of pillows behind his back. Hitomi started toward him slowly. 

Van was watching Merle and he said, "Who's 'we'?" Then Merle saw Hitomi approaching and narrowed her eyes. Van looked up and saw Hitomi, who stopped dead. The silence stretched on and on until Hitomi spoke. 

"Hi, Van. How are you feeling?" Hitomi knew she was blushing, and didn't try to hide it. Instead she started walking toward him again until she'd reached Merle's side. Merle reluctantly made room for Hitomi, who stood there like a statue, looking at Van.

Who was staring right back. "Hitomi…" he said. When it was clear the conversation wasn't going anywhere, Merle piped up.

"Her whole family is here too, Lord Van. I took good care of them, just like a good hostess. They got rooms, new clothes, and I even helped." Her cheery tone broke the trance the two long-separated 'friends' had been in, and Van looked at Merle. Once she had his attention, she said, "What happened? I found you and the architect shot with poisoned arrows, then Hitomi showed up." Then she added, almost an afterthought, "It was her father and brother who carried you back. The architect was already dead when I found you."

Van looked stony-faced, and Hitomi worried about how important the architect had been. Then he turned pale and sat back against the pillows. She felt alarm course through her. "Oh no, what were we thinking, you still need to rest," she said putting her hand on her head. "Come on, Merle, we'd better go." Merle stood and left, leaving Hitomi behind. Van's eyes closed, and Hitomi watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. 

Thinking he was asleep, she leaned in and gave him a kiss and whispered, "Get better, Van." Then she turned and rushed from the room, Van's eyes following her as she closed the door, and he smiled.

::Please do R+R!::


	2. Pendents

::Going over this again reminds me how stiff I was when I wrote it o.O Everything had to fit into the timeline of world presented in the anime! (note the many references in this chapter) Nowadays my fics usually deviate so far from the originals they are barely recognizable! Okay, 'nuff said there. 

Thank-you to my reviewers! I love you!::

For the next few days Van mostly slept. In his waking hours he went over the finished plans for the wall with a new architect and let his advisors inform him on how Fanalia was doing. Years after the war, and they were only about half done with the reconstruction. He wasn't about to tell Hitomi that her return from the Mystic Moon, or Earth as she called it, couldn't have come at a better time. For deep in the remains of what had been the Zaibach Empire there remained a fraction of the power unleashed from the Fate Alteration Machine built by the Zaibach Emperor, Dornkirk. 

That remnant was a blue energist, which granted wishes to all who held it. He'd searched his dreams and done countless hours of research to try and find out how to isolate and, if not destroy, permanently contain that power. While Hitomi had revealed that wishes could come true, this energist granted any person's slightest whim. Who owned the power was a mystery, one Van hoped Hitomi would be able to solve. He was hesitant to ask her when she visited him, because he didn't want her to think he was using her like during the Zaibach War.

When his leg was strong enough to walk on again, he went to pay a visit to his guests. The doctor said he'd seen the group from the Mystic Moon heading for the back garden. Van dressed and found Hitomi showing Escaflowne to her family. He hung back in the shadows a moment to examine them.

Mrs. Kanzaki was shorter than her daughter by a few inches, and her husband almost a foot taller than she. He was tall, as tall as Van, but with less muscle and more stomach. Her younger brother, _Yoii or Yosi?_ he couldn't remember the name, was as tall as she, but looked about Merle's age. They all had the same, light brown hair except for her mother, whose hair was slightly darker. Hitomi had green eyes like her mom. Her brother and father had brown eyes. Their new clothes suited them, and he couldn't help but carefully examine every inch of Hitomi. 

She'd grown taller, and was more muscular than before. She'd let her hair grow down to her shoulders, and it was tightly braided. He liked the change, but there was an almost sad look in her eyes as she gazed up at Escaflowne. When he came out into the open, she spotted him immediately. She rushed over and gave him a hug, but he wanted more than just a hug. She pulled back and waved her family forward. He didn't miss the measuring looks her father gave him, or her brother's dancing eyes. Even if her parents weren't sure yet, her brother sure had a clue.

"Mom, Dad, Yoii, this is Van Fanel, King of Fanalia." Hitomi stayed next to Van, worried about his being out and about already. Maybe Draconians healed faster than normal people... She didn't want him to fall and get hurt if he got dizzy. 

Van smiled and offered the hand attached to the uninjured arm. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you," he said, shaking their hands. They stood around and made small talk, rather difficult when one isn't even from the same planet as their guests, but they shared stories. He was starting to tire, but didn't want to say anything, fearing Mr. Kanzaki might see him a weakling. That wouldn't help the young king if he wanted to try to get Hitomi to marry him.

Before he could politely excuse himself, Hitomi said, "Why don't we head back? Lunch will be served soon and Yoii can't afford to miss meals." Her brother chuckled and led the way back to the castle, her parents behind him, letting Hitomi and Van take the rear.

Van tried to keep up with them, but Hitomi kept holding him back, taking his arm and forcing him to slow down. Then, they were alone. Van stopped and Hitomi stopped with him. He looked down at her, and raised a hand to her cheek. "You've certainly changed," he said. Hitomi's knees felt week. Why did he have to stare at her like that? He leaned down as she tilted her head up and they kissed gently. 

Hitomi tried to back up, blushing pink, but Van didn't let her, and instead kissed her again. They arrived at the castle several minutes after Hitomi's parents with their arms around each other, but those who noticed just associated it with Van's health. At lunch, the conversation was definitely energetic, with Merle and Hitomi snapping at each other from opposite sides of the table. The verbal war was a source of great entertainment for Hitomi's brother, who laughed every time the two stopped talking and just glared at each other.

When the meal was finished, Merle stood up and said, "Well Hitomi, you'd better head back to the Mystic Moon before you start getting those visions again, or you'll be stuck here for the next war, too!" and stomped off. Hitomi looked at Van in surprise. 

"What was that about another war?" she asked him. Van rested his elbows on the table and leaned his chin on his hands. 

"Well, I was hoping you'd have more time to settle in, but now is as good a time as any," he said. Hitomi leaned forward, and Van noticed her parents and brother did the same. "When we destroyed the Fate Alteration Machine, some of the power attached itself to an energist. That energist has been granting the wishes, or really just the wants, of the current holder. It's been messing up everything. People spontaneously disappear, weeks of work can fall apart overnight, and guymelefs have been seen gathering in Gous."

"Gous? Where's that?" Hitomi asked.

"It was part of the Zaibach Empire, one of the new countries formed after the Zaibach War," he said. "We don't know who's doing it! We can't even figure out where! Dryden—I'm sure you remember him—has looked up everything in print even remotely related, and can't find anything to suggest how to stop it. I can't find anything either, except for an old method of blocking unwanted power." Van looked Hitomi in the eye. "That's why I was out there when I was attacked. The wall being built uses special stones to form an astral shield against whatever you want. In our case, greedy wishes."

Hitomi seemed to know where this was going. "And you want me to dowse for the power's location."

Van looked at the table. "I know you hate to use your powers, but I've tried and can't get anything." He didn't dare to hope. Van looked up.

She was looking thoughtful. "I don't see what harm dowsing would do, but if you find out where it is, what next?"

This part he knew well. "Austuria, Basram, Freid; the Gous king, Kasan Balli, and Fanalia would join forces to see what we can do against the power to try and stop it. We'll either destroy or imprison it. Sending it elsewhere isn't an option, and the chaos these wishes are inducing on Gaea will destroy it as surely as the machine could."

Hitomi sat back and stared at her lap, thinking. Then she looked at Van and said, "I'll try." He took off the pendent and held it out to her. Hitomi swallowed and took it. The pink stone glowed for a moment, then returned to normal. Van led them to the map room and spread out the most detailed one of Gous he could find. Hitomi took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She swung the pendent once to the side, and then let it keep swinging over the map, trying to feel the power she and Van had stopped from destroying their planet.

_His planet_, she thought to herself, correcting that wayward thought. Then she concentrated on the power again. It was like a sick feeling in her stomach, humid and sticky, like the death smoke that had turned Escaflowne black during the war. There! She opened her eyes to see the pendent had stopped swinging and was pointing strait down at a point on the map. "There, the power is there," she said. Van looked at the map. 

"Hmm, that's in the Dune desert. Not a friendly place for invaders, the people there were pretty much overlooked by Zaibach because they don't have an army. It's enough for them to just stay alive." Van studied the map further and marked the spot with a red drop. The sound of the ink hitting the paper sent Hitomi spiraling into darkness.

Then a picture formed before her. She was standing on a beach, staring across the water. It was sunny and warm, but as she watched the water turn red, foaming as it hit the rocks at the beaches end. Then the sky turned red, and the beach, and everything else! No, one thing wasn't. The pendent was held out before her, and it wasn't red, it was still pink on its gold chain. Then she saw another hand holding a pendent identical to hers but blue, and another hand holding a green, and another holding a yellow, and another holding a white. The pendants all glowed, then the vision was gone.

Hitomi woke up lying on the floor, her head in her mother's lap. Someone was stroking her hair back from her face. She sat up. "Hitomi! Don't sit up so fast! You just feinted," her mother said. Hitomi shook her head and looked up to lock gazes with Van.

"I had a vision," she said. Her mother gasped. "I was standing on a beach somewhere, but everything was red! Then I saw the pendant in my hand, the only non-red thing for miles. Then I saw four more hands, with four more pendants, each a different color." She stood up, and said, "What could it mean?"

Van was frowning. "I don't know, but you were definitely out of it for a while. I'll send messengers out to deliver the information about the power's location to our allies."

Hitomi looked up suddenly from her deep thoughts and asked, "How's everyone doing? I totally forgot to ask about them. Could I send letters to Duke Chid and Millerna? And how's Alan and his sister doing?"

Van smiled and said, "I can send your letters with the messengers, just write them quickly so I can send the messengers out." Hitomi beamed at him and rushed out of the map room to start her letters. Her parents and brother stared after her.

"Who were all those people she was talking about?" Yoii asked Van. The king pointed to a large map of Gaea hanging on the wall. 

"This is the Duchy of Freid, Duke Chid is the ruler there. Princess Millerna is the youngest—and only surviving daughter of—King Aston of Austuria. Sir Alan is a Knight of Caeli from Austuria. His sister, Selena, is Hitomi's age. Selena suffered at the hands of Zaibach's sorcerers since she was a young child and was reunited with Alan after the war."

Hitomi's parents seemed surprised their daughter had such powerful friends like Van and other royalty. Later that afternoon, Hitomi tracked Van down and gave him the letters. "Here," she said as she dropped them on his desk. He looked up from the paper he'd been reading, startled. 

"Oh, Hitomi," he said, and he yawned and stretched. "Hmm," he said. "What time is it?"

She looked around and saw the clock on the mantel, "Almost dinner time. With your leg we'd better start down now." Van shook his head and started to read the paper again. "Why not? You can't skip meals and work long hours if you're to heal, you know."

Van looked up. "I usually have breakfast and dinner brought up here. Merle always makes me go downstairs for midday, but I need to get work done." His eyes sparkled and he smiled at her. "Of course, I wouldn't begrudge the company."

Hitomi sat down and said, "All right, but only to make sure you actually eat something and don't let it sit there." Van stood suddenly and went to a bookcase. He removed a relatively new book and handed it to her. 

"Here, this will keep you occupied until the food comes." Hitomi opened the cover and gasped. "It's all in the language of Mystic Moon, and I can't read it." He then placed a pot of ink and several sheets of paper in front of her on the desk. "For notes."

She made herself comfortable in her seat and started reading. It was strange, how the mysteriously curled and slashed writing actually made sense. Even if it was a copy, it felt like the words were being whispered into her mind as she read. 

The book was about Atlantis' culture. It was fascinating, and she forgot about taking notes at first, the whispering voice urging her to read more. Halfway through the voice started talking about a certain jewelry maker. This famous artisan could carve anything, it was said he even succeeded in carving the elements. The completion of a certain set of necklaces coincided with Atlantis' destruction.

She was so deeply engrossed in the book that she didn't notice the footman who brought in the food. Van had to cover the page she was reading with his hand to make her stop and eat. "And you were worried I would forget," he said. Hitomi wasn't really listening, still in a sort of daze from reading. Her mind was buzzing while she ate, and Van watched her carefully as she resumed her study of the text. Hitomi retained enough control over her own mind to remember to take notes, on the necklaces in particular. When she finished reading, she started writing in earnest, almost copying the chapter on the jewelry of Atlantis word for word. Her mother looked in to see if Van knew where Hitomi was, but stopped herself, seeing Hitomi sitting right in front of him, both working in companionable silence. 

The hours ticked by, and gradually Hitomi's hand slowed and stopped. Van happened to look up from his own notes and numbers, to see her sleeping soundly on top of her papers. With a little smile, he stood and put away his notebook. Then he carefully slipped her pile of notes from under her and looked them over, impressed. Van tucked them away in a drawer with the book and picked her up. He winced a bit as the scar on his leg pulled. _Draconians heal quickly, but that doesn't keep the wounds from reopening_, he reminded himself. Carefully, he carried Hitomi down the stairs to her room.

Van lay her on the sheets and tucked her in. He stood there for a moment, watching her sleep. Then, he leaned down and gave her a light kiss like she'd given him while he lay abed, and slipped out of the room. A sleepy smile crossed Hitomi's face as she sighed, wiggling deeper into the sheets.

The next morning, Van sent out the messengers. For about a week, he and Hitomi went over ancient documents and old friends. Hitomi got a quick lesson on Gaea, learning the different races and different countries. She wondered why Van thought this information was important for her to know, but decided he must be expecting her to accompany him in matters of state. _The dreamer turns politic_, Hitomi thought during one such lesson, _What a joke_. 

It was another week before they got any word from Fanalia's allies. The first to respond was Freid. Chid sent one of his most trusted advisors with the formal response to Van's information and a personal note to Hitomi. Chid was glad Hitomi had returned, and was hoping to be able to meet her person soon. He had just celebrated his eleventh birthday, and the sixth year of his reign. Freid was still rebuilding, and he said they would have finished sooner had it not been for the bothersome interruptions caused by the wishes. 

Only a day later, Hitomi and Van got a surprise visit from Alan and his sister Selena. Hitomi saw them disembark from the carriage and almost flew down the steps. "Alan!" she cried and he caught her a grin on his face. "How are you two doing?" she asked when he set her back on her feet. 

Selena smiled shyly. "I've learned much in the past six years, Lady Hitomi, and have heard much about you. It's an honor," she curtsied. Hitomi blushed and said the honor was hers. "I hope to get to know you better while we're here," Selena said. Then Hitomi remembered Selena was her age, a little over twenty-one. Suddenly Hitomi felt very old, and sobered a bit, then she turned and walked beside the two siblings as they climbed the steps to the door where everyone waited. 

They were at the base of the steps when Alan said, "Hitomi, I'm glad to see you doing well, but I must say, seeing you now makes me wish we had married." Thankfully, no one besides Selena seemed to hear the comment, but Hitomi later caught Yoii giving Alan searching looks which made her wonder.

She introduced her parents and brother. Selena had certainly matured since Hitomi had last seen her. Selena had a developed tact, common sense, and was no longer the lost child she had been. Her maturity rivaled Merle's, who didn't have the excuse of being someone else for ten years. 

Lunch involved a larger gathering than before, Van noticed. In only a month the number of people who ate at the table had gone from two to eight. The conversation was certainly more interesting, and the atmosphere around the castle seemed to pick up a more cheerful feel. Maybe it was the guests, and maybe it was just seeing Hitomi again. 

Oh, how he loved her. Did she truly understand how much he adored her, admired her? She was so strong, never letting Merle get the upper hand, and still as brave as she'd been during the war. If anything, her looks had improved over the years. She was taller, physically stronger, and had matured in more than just behavior. It just never seemed like there was a proper time and place to _say_ or _do_ anything about it. Sure, there was the occasional spark, like in the woods that one time. And not to forget the kisses in the hallway, the study, and the secret ones they gave each other when they thought the other was asleep. Their relationship would be doomed, however, if neither of them said anything.

Late that night, Hitomi lay awake. She couldn't get Van out of her head! Wherever she looked, eyes open or shut, she saw his face. The soft brown eyes, stubborn mouth, thick black hair, and the look in his eyes was one of quiet hurt. No matter how she tried, the eyes never left her. Was it a vision? No, those were usually over quickly, this was all her fault. What had she done to make him so sad to look at her? She loved Van deeply, and missed him when she wasn't with him. There was something about him that made her feel safe, something more than the security she'd felt when with Alan. It was as if her heart still beat with his from when they'd caused Escaflowne to rise up and free them from Dornkirk. 

Frustrated with herself and her inability to sleep, Hitomi rose and dressed. She walked past sleepy guards and through the back gate to the garden, which led to the forest beyond. Hitomi knew it wasn't safe, but Gaea had been at peace for so long she didn't feel as scared as she had during the war. For a few minutes she aimlessly wondered, not knowing where she was going, until she happened upon a clearing in the trees. There was moonlight dusting the scene, and she saw someone standing in the center, staring up at the sky. 

Hitomi looked up in the same direction and saw Earth above her. She stepped into the clearing to get a better look, then froze when the person standing in the middle turned.

"Hitomi?" Van said. She sighed with relief and joined him, looking up at the stars.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked. Gazing at the blue Earth hanging above them like a warped disco ball.

Van looked at her face, so intent in her study of her home world. "Yes it is," he said. Then he gently turned her head so she was looking straight at him and asked, "Hitomi, will you marry me?"

Hitomi felt her breath catch. Only once or twice had she actually ever dreamed about marrying Van, what it would be like. Then she'd always chide herself for giving in to such hopeless thoughts. Now, however, he was actually offering it. For real. 

"I…" Hitomi said.

Van's face fell. "It's Okay, you don't have to answer now. I figured you'd probably want some time to think it over."

Hitomi gasped and rested her hand on his arm. "Oh Van, I didn't mean that! It's just… I didn't let myself hope that you still loved me as much as I love you." Van looked at her in surprise. She felt her eyes water, "Of course I'll marry you. I'd be proud to."

She didn't need to say any more. Van took her in his arms and they kissed with a desperation they had not allowed themselves to show until then. They just stood in each other's embrace for a few minutes afterwards, telling themselves that they weren't dreaming, that it was really happening. Then they returned to the castle together, arm in arm.

They decided it was probably best not to make the engagement public yet, they didn't even tell Merle or Hitomi's parents. In the next week, all of the other nations sent back replies. They varied from demands of how Van knew Hitomi's dowsing worked, to questions of when their next meeting should be. Van decided that a council of representatives from each country should be the guiding force for any course of action taken against this rogue power. Naturally, the response to this was, where? So Van offered to host the conference in Fanalia. 

In the weeks after their engagement, people started to notice a slight change in the king's general manner. He was more cheerful, more relaxed. He and Hitomi began to have breakfast together in his study before starting on their separate duties. How he had managed to do it, Hitomi couldn't fathom, but she gradually became in charge of domestic duties around the castle. She got lessons in general management from the housekeeper, a kind woman well into her sixties and deserving a comfy retirement. Hitomi learned how to arrange the day's meals, how to handle a banquet as opposed to a party or quiet get-together, and what kind of schedule the usual chores were done on.

To Hitomi, it was exhilarating. She was no longer the fifth wheel, but a real participant in life at the castle. Merle didn't show any reluctance in handing over the duties of hostess that Van had been preparing her for. She did, however, resent the amount of time the two spent together. Merle was the first to notice how Van and Hitomi acted around each other. How on occasion either one was known to sort of lose track of the conversation and just smile at some unseen fantasy. 

Hitomi and Van had just finished breakfast in the study and were working on the number of chickens that should be plucked for the conference, when Merle burst in and shut the door behind her. They looked up at her in surprise. "Okay you two, what's going on?" Merle demanded. Van and Hitomi looked at each other in dismay. "Well? Are you going to let me in on your little secret?"

Van looked at Hitomi, then at Merle. "Hitomi and I are going to get married."

At first Merle didn't move, she just stood in front of the door with her face in the same suspicious scowl it had been in since she'd walked in. Then she slumped over a bit, as if she were a marionette with her arm and head strings cut. "You're joking," Van and Hitomi shook their heads. "Why didn't you tell me!" she cried.

Hitomi made shushing noises and said, "Keep it down! We didn't want anybody to know yet."

"We decided it would be best to announce it at the conference, and at the same time extend an invitation to the respective rulers who'd be interested in attending," Van said.

Merle stared at them and squeaked, "You're serious aren't you?" The two sitting at the desk nodded. "Yikes! I can't wait to see their faces!" Merle said and she leapt out the door.

Hitomi turned to Van, "Do you suppose she'll tell anybody?"

Van looked up, "And ruin the surprise? I think not. Merle loves secrets." Then they went on to discuss the necessities for the conference.

Three months after Hitomi's arrival on Gaea, people started to arrive for the conference. To almost everyone's surprise, the rulers of the allied nations came to represent themselves instead of sending someone else. "They feel that they can't trust anyone else to correctly represent them and their ideas at a meeting of this kind of importance. We _are_ talking about the future of the planet," Van told Hitomi when King Aston of Austuria arrived. To Hitomi's great delight, Millerna and her husband Dryden accompanied the king. The three of them caught up on things in one of the drawing rooms near the council chamber where the meeting would be held.

Duke Chid of Freid joined them there that afternoon, sharing stories following Hitomi's return to Earth and the rebuilding of Freid. Then, as dinner drew near, Chid said, "Oh yes, Lady Hitomi, I found something among my mother's things while overlooking the restoration of the castle." He held out a hand and said, "It reminded me of your pendent." Before Hitomi could snatch her hand back, he dropped a necklace set with a yellow stone onto her palm. The second the gold chain finished the decent from Chid's hand to hers, the vision overtook her. 

It was the same as before, but clearer this time. The beach, sky, everything was red like blood. Then she saw her pendant in her hand, and the blue, and the green, and the yellow, and the white. Then the vision was gone and the concerned face of Millerna was hovering over her own. "I really wish they wouldn't do that," Hitomi muttered.

Millerna looked at Hitomi with a frown and said, "A vision?" Hitomi nodded. "What of?" Hitomi described it to her and the others as she had to Van and her family before. 

"Hmm," said Dryden. He was a curious man by nature, and Hitomi had intrigued him from the beginning with her powers during the Zaibach War. "It seems to me that the other pendants you saw in your dream must have some sort of role in what's going on, otherwise, why would you see them?" He sat back and folded his arms. "If only we knew where the others were."

Hitomi nodded with the others, then stopped. "Wait a minute, I read about four pendants carved out of the elements by a craftsman in Atlantis." The others looked at her. "It was a book written in that language of theirs that Van asked me to read. He can't, so I took notes on it. I wonder where they went?"

Dryden leaned forward. "Did it mention if the pendants had any special properties like your own? Or where they may be found?"

She frowned. "No, that chapter ended with the destruction of Atlantis, but I do know that they were created as a single set. Presumably that means they're connected somehow, but it didn't say anything about them having any special abilities."

Chid's eyes were wide. "Wow, I didn't know it was from Atlantis. Father gave it to Mother when they were married." Then his face lit up. "Maybe I can find something at Fortuna Temple! The power of Atlantis is sealed there, maybe there's some reference to these pendants that we just never noticed before."

Dryden looked interested. "Hmm, maybe so. Hey, why don't you tell me about the temple. I've never had a chance to see it, and I hear it's quite spectacular." He and Chid left Millerna and Hitomi in the drawing room alone. Millerna watched them go and turned to Hitomi.

"So, how are things between you and Van going?" she asked. It was an innocent enough question, but Hitomi knew what she really meant. 

"We decided our feelings for each other are mutual, and that's as far as I care to say at the moment," she smiled.

Millerna looked up at Hitomi, who was now a couple of inches taller, "Oh please! I know you two, and something has definitely changed since I saw you together last." Still, Hitomi refused to say more, and they went on to discuss other things.


	3. Dragon's Blood

::Me love reviewers! ^_^ When I didn't get any reviews for the second chapter I wondered if it was worth updating. Then I got one! Rereading this fic I keep looking at the lines and wincing, thinking 'Have the right idea, but that wreaks of bad writing.' Sadly, fixing it all would probably add a lot of details the story doesn't really need. For the sake of keeping the plot moving, I left most of it as is::

--------

A few days later the conference got underway. Hitomi, Merle, Millerna, Dryden, Alan, Selena, and some others sat in chairs along the edge of the room as spectators. Chid did well for his age, and didn't let the older men intimidate him. Hitomi had shown Van the yellow pendant the morning of the first meeting, and he'd told her to use any of his books she thought could help. Despite the best attempts of many, the atmosphere in the conference room wasn't all that friendly, putting everyone on edge. 

First was the issue of Hitomi's credibility as a seer. Chid and several others spoke for her, but proof of her skills was needed. So, under immense pressure and scrutiny, Hitomi used her pendant to locate a particular ruler's hometown on a map. That settled, she could safely sit along the wall and act like a part of it, listening. After the first day not much had been settled. The King of Gous insisted on using his own forces and police to obtain the harmful power, but the other rulers insisted on an international group going in to make sure no one nation took the energist to abuse its power.

Hitomi opted to eat breakfast with her family and friends the next morning instead of with Van. Her parents were quite interested in politics, and she agreed to try and get them seats on that day's conference. Yoii decided he'd rather stay away from the whole thing and Merle said she'd show him around the city. That day's talks were almost as argumentive as the day before, and Hitomi could sense Van's frustration. He wasn't angry with any one man, it was just the whole, slow process. He agreed with letting each man have his say, but it was just taking too long.

She'd brought one of the few books on Atlantis from Van's library to read that day. While the King of Basram argued about some trade route being disturbed, she opened it up to the first page and started reading. The inner voice read the book to her, and pretty soon, she'd tuned out the whole conference. Once in a while she'd make a note on the piece of paper she'd stuck in the back of the book, but otherwise it was as if she were in a trance or having another vision. Millerna watched Hitomi nervously, wondering if the young woman always looked like that when reading. Then she noticed Hitomi's parents sitting beside her. Her father was paying attention to the conference, but her mother was reading the book along with Hitomi, her expression the same. 

Hitomi read for hours. When a break for lunch was called, her father had to shake her and her mother awake. Hitomi closed the book, marking her place with the notes she'd taken, and followed them out. Lunch was full of people's opinion about the conference talks thus far, and not much of it was good. This ruler complained about that, and that one complained about this, etc.

When the talks resumed that afternoon, Hitomi was again in attendance, but she read alone, her mother watching the men bicker about Zaibach and how _their_ country had suffered more. Millerna noticed how quiet Van was, his face looking as calm and smooth as an isolated lake with no breeze. Hitomi once again dedicated herself to the book and its voice. She read on rather quickly until she reached the part about the period of time just after Atlantis' fall. 

The book said that to create a pure Gaea, free of their corrupt power, the Draconians needed to call upon the four basic elements and the one power they could count on to not be corrupted, their hearts. To make this pure world they used the five pendants. The green pendant went to the people close to animals and they stood for the north. The white pendant was sent to the people close to the air and flight and stood for the south. The blue pendant went to the people of the sea and stood for the west. The yellow pendant went to the people close to fire and heat and stood for the east. The last pendant had been carved from a dragenergist, a dragon heart, and it contained the power to activate the elements of the other four. Together they created Gaea, and were quickly separated when the peoples of Gaea went their separate ways.

Abruptly the book ended. Hitomi blinked and closed it. _Well_, she thought, looking over her notes. _The green pendant probably can be found with the cat clans, they're always trying to protect wildlife from poachers and misuse. The white pendent could either be with some hidden enclave of Draconians or near that place with the floating rocks they use for airships. The blue pendant has got to be with the mer-folk. Dryden told me about them, he bought one to set her free, so they must exist and it seems they would be the most likely to have it. I have the yellow, and isn't Fortuna Temple an extinct volcano? There are volcanoes near there, so it fits. But how did Alan's father come across this pendant?_

Hitomi fingered the pink stone absently, and then sighed and looked over her notes again. At least she had some idea what they were capable of and how they worked. She didn't quite understand why she'd seen them in a world colored red, but the future would yield the hidden meaning behind the vision soon enough.

That evening, Hitomi shared her findings with Van and a few of the others she felt needed to know. Dryden looked over the book while Chid examined the pendant in awe of its power. Van looked concerned. "Hitomi," he said in a tone that made everyone look at him in alarm. "What if your vision is telling us that we will need to use the pendants to create yet another world after destroying this one. If these foolish wishes continue, we will need that power just to cleanse Gaea so it can remain. It has only been about six years since Dornkirk used his machine to grant everyone's wishes, and it almost destroyed us. Can Gaea stand any more without falling apart?"

Dryden winced. "Did you have to think so grimly? I mean I doubt these wishes will have the same devastating effects as the whole machine did. For one, this is just one person's wishes with only a fraction of the power used before."

Hitomi looked over at him. "Yes, but after a while the pressure can build up, and must be released. You're familiar with earthquakes, right? It might work the same way, just more dramatically.

"Van's right, Gaea can only stand so much of this before it destroys itself like Atlantis."

Then Dryden held up a hand. "Ah, but was Atlantis truly destroyed?"

Van frowned. "What do you mean?" 

Dryden shrugged and said, "Well, when we went to the Mystic Valley, we went through some portal to the capital of Atlantis. How could there be ruins if it was completely destroyed? And wasn't Atlantis originally on the Mystic Moon? It's still up there, and people live there. And they are thriving, unless I'm mistaken." 

Hitomi nodded. "You have a point. I wonder if those alive on Earth today are descendents from Atlantis, and if so, why we have no wings." They sat in silence for a while mulling over their theories and thoughts. "Still," she said after a moment or two, "We should try to collect the other three pendants."

Chid nodded and said, "I think Sir Alan would like to try for it. It is a quest, you know, to find the three last elemental pendants." The others looked at him, but he ignored their looks and gazed at the yellow pendent hanging in front of his face. "He might be very up to it indeed."

To Hitomi's great relief, Alan accepted the quest when she mentioned it. "Besides," he said, "I might as well go for it while I'm still young." Hitomi laughed at this, but Alan had a point. He was nearing the end of his prime, and Van could now win two out of three bouts. The _Crusade_ arrived a few days after the second day of the conference. Originally it was to pick him and Selena up on their way back from a cargo run, but Gaddes and the rest of the crew rejoiced at the idea of a little adventure. 

Hitomi watched anxiously as they lifted off. Van put his arm around her and said, "Don't worry, Alan will find them if they can be found." Hitomi just hoped her source was dependable enough. Dryden had read the book, and agreed with her findings. It had taken him a couple of days to translate it, but she enjoyed the assurance of a second opinion.

That evening at the conference, the accumulative nations agreed to send only a small international force under a Gous general into the desert where Hitomi had located the offending power. When the paper was signed, wine was distributed and they toasted the endeavor. Then Van stood up and the respective kings and reigning dukes fell silent. This man who'd been so quiet during the talks was about to say something of clear importance. 

Van set down his glass and held out an arm to Hitomi sitting along the wall. "Gentlemen, I see this as a fit time to announce my engagement." Several surprised looks crossed some faces. One of those so shocked was the King of Basram, who had been convinced Van would never marry. "To Lady Hitomi of the Mystic Moon."

A cheer went up around the room. Chid then led a toast and agreed on the spot to attend the wedding. Not about to be out-done by an eleven-year-old, several other kings, including the ruler of Austuria, agreed on the spot. Some held back for fear of leaving their countries for anything more than matters of national security. Van and Hitomi graciously accepted offers for chefs and florists and decorators to be sent to help with the occasion. 

Then Hitomi realized how truly brilliant this move was. Van had ended the conference on a festive and positive note. Men who could have gone off resenting each other, were instead wondering how they could arrange things back home so they could visit again. The optimistic announcement seemed to leave no question as to whether or not the mission would succeed. The pending struggle to obtain that dangerous power in the desert seemed less devastating and significant than it really was. Hitomi just hoped Alan could find those pendants.

At their first opportunity to talk in private, her parents immediately demanded to know when this decision had been made, her mother's argument ending with a teary, "And I want to go home!"

Hitomi held her mother in a hug and said, "If that was really the case, and you truly wished to leave here, then that blue beam of light would have taken you away already. If you truly wish it, it will come." Her mother stared at her. 

"You speak like someone who knows, so I'll believe you," Mrs. Kanzaki said. "But I still need to go back, even if I truly don't want to. I could've used your support, but you're marrying that king of yours and won't be able to come." Her face was pale and full of pain.

Hitomi felt her fear rise up. "Mom, what are you saying?"

Mr. Kanzaki took his wife in his arms and looked at Hitomi with sad eyes. "We came to the United States because your mother  wanted to see it and see how you were doing there. But, she's got cancer, honey. An inoperable brain tumor, which hasn't responded to other forms of treatment."

Yoii locked eyes with Hitomi over their mother's head, ready to let tears slip. Hitomi was in shock. She slowly detached her mother from her father's embrace and took her into her own arms. Then she started sobbing and they both wept. Why? She thought. Why am I crying when I should be happy beyond words?

Van found them like that, huddled together as a family, the pain he saw and felt in Hitomi's eyes sent him back to his childhood, when his father had died and the haunted look of loss in his mother's eyes. "Hitomi," he said, "what's wrong?"

She buried her head in his shoulder and cried. When she had had a moment to calm down, she looked up at him with her tear-streaked face and said, "My mother is going to die, Van."

He looked at her with alarm. "You had a vision of her death?"

Hitomi shook her head. "No, but she has a brain tumor which is slowly killing her. There's nothing we can do for her here, but none of the things back at home worked either."

He seemed to hesitate and finally he said, "Hitomi, there is something we can do for your mother."

Hitomi's eyes went wide. "What? What is it?"

They were all looking at him now, "The blood of a dragon is known to cure all ailments. It's the ultimate antidote, and can help a warrior who lost the use of a limb regain it. The problem is it's hard to get. You saw Folkin, and you watched me fight, so you know how dangerous it is."

She bit her lip and looked at her mom. Then she turned to Van and said, "But who would do it? Who could possibly accept such a challenge? Who would want to?" 

He was about to say he'd do it, but Yoii spoke first. "Let me, it's my mother." They all stared at him.

Mrs. Kanzaki stared at her son. "How can you, Yoii? You don't know anything about fighting."

Hitomi and her father traded looks. "Yes he does," Mr. Kanzaki said. His wife stared up at him. "I took him to my brother's dojo when he was six, and he's been going ever since. He works there now as an assistant." He looked at Van. "He knows how to use a sword, and use it well."

Van looked at Yoii, gave him a careful going over, and nodded. "I suppose you could do it. I must warn you, keep close by, because after the death of the dragon the blood only keeps its potency for two hours. It's best if you don't kill it at all, but I can't think of many occasions when both the knight and the dragon survived."

Mrs. Kanzaki looked at her son with concern. "Yoii, please, don't risk yourself."

Yoii looked very old and wise when he turned and put his hands on her shoulders as he said, "Mother, I have to do this. We need you alive, all of us, especially Hitomi. Don't let her wedding day be your funeral." Then he turned to Van and said, "Is there any special training I should get before going out?"

Van nodded and said, "Follow me." He led Yoii down the hall, past the first armory, to the second. He unlocked the door with a large key from a ring in his pocket. Inside was all the equipment the Fanalian kings used to kill dragons to claim the throne. Van selected a suit of armor, a collapsible shield, and a sword. He held them out for Yoii to examine. Yoii went over them with expert fingers and Van felt a little better knowing that he wasn't sending Hitomi's little brother to certain death.

"Come over here and I'll show you how to use it," Van said, and he led Yoii down the hall to an indoor practice court. To his relief, it was empty. He showed Yoii how to put on the armor, how to open the shield, and let him try some passes with the sword. "Don't worry, a little practice and you'll have the hang of it," Van said. He meant it, Hitomi's brother was a natural. Yoii was obviously well trained, even if it was a style different from anything Van had ever seen before. 

While Yoii could spend the next few days in the practice courts, Van could not. Mr. Kanzaki supervised instead, and Mrs. Kanzaki helped Hitomi make plans for the wedding. The clash of cultures for the next few days was like a maelstrom. Mrs. Kanzaki wanted the wedding one way, planners from other countries kept coming in and offering their own opinions.

Hitomi moaned as she looked at the long list of decorations one of the planners wanted. "Why couldn't we just elope?" she asked Van. He chuckled, but said nothing. 

Finally, Hitomi and Van sorted through all of the proposals and found one acceptable to a nation in the midst of rebuilding. They would hold the wedding in the garden on the lawn and invited over two hundred guests. It was the minimum number of invitations the couple could manage. 

Then Hitomi had an idea. This was her wedding after all, and she wanted her friends to be there. She wrote out the invitations herself and concentrated. When she opened her eyes, the letters were gone. With a grin she went to tell the cook to make adjustments for a few more guests.

A week before the wedding, Millerna, Dryden, and Selena showed up. Hitomi wondered why Alan hadn't come, then remembered that he was off searching for the pendants. It hadn't been that long, barely a month. King Aston was in the coach behind them, and he grumbled about traveling to Fanalia twice in five moons at his age.

Chid arrived the day before the wedding, and Hitomi greeted him first like a king, then like a friend once they were in less public company. Late that afternoon she stood on the roof staring up at Gaea. It was risky, but she'd given her friends clear instructions. **Wait on a roof or in the open. Wear your best clothes, look nice, and above all, be polite when you get here. Also, don't attempt if you have heart problems.**

She stood on the roof and held the pendant in front of her. _Oh please, oh please_, she thought. Then a beam of light shot down from the sky. The people below gasped and pointed, as three figures floated down to stand before Hitomi in utter shock. "Yukari!" Hitomi cried, and she hugged her friend. 

"Hitomi? How?" Yukari said. She returned her friend's embrace though. Next was a quick hug for Amano and then a bear hug for Lisa, her friend from school. 

Hitomi smiled at them and said, "I'm glad you all made it. I was worried for a second there that I wouldn't be able t get you to come."

Amano held Yukari's hand and looked around them. "Where are we?" he asked.

Hitomi waved a hand at the view behind them and they turned, gasping. "Welcome to Fanalia. I came here several years ago. You probably don't remember it because when I returned it was as if I'd never been. I returned to the same day I'd left." Then she held her hands in front of her and said, "Look up."

She heard gasps. "But that's…" Lisa said. Despite being able to only speak English, Lisa could be understood as clearly as if she'd been speaking fluent Japanese. Hitomi wondered about it for a moment, then decided it was just something about Gaea's effect on people from the Mystic Moon.

"As far as the people of Gaea are concerned, we are from the Mystic Moon, not Earth. You won't know what most of the guests will be talking about, but I think Yoii and my parents will enjoy talking to someone from home. Please, follow me." Hitomi led them down the stairs and through the halls to a couple of rooms next door to her parents' room. "You can stay here tonight. The wedding is tomorrow, so I apologize for making you get dressed up, but it's the best way to not lose things." _Especially since it keeps a particular Merle person from going through your bag…_

Lisa accepted the whole thing quickly. In fact, Hitomi hadn't noticed even a glimmer of disbelief in her friend. Hitomi talked with Yukari and Amano for a little while in their room, explaining things. Yukari was all excited that her friend was getting married to a king, then settled down after an awkward pause and said that Amano was just fine for her.

Hitomi left them to mull over things before the big day and went to talk to Lisa. When she entered the room, she saw Lisa had already changed into the nightgown set out for her and was staring at the view of Earth out her window. "Lisa—" Hitomi started.

"You don't have to explain Gaea to me, Hitomi," Lisa said. "I've been here before." Hitomi sat down and let her friend explain. "I could tell the first time I saw you at track that you'd been here, and were running from the dreams that it leaves behind. I was the same, but I was a child when I came to Gaea. I lived here until I was about six, a few years. Then a blue light appeared and took me home.

"My parents were scared. I'd grown three years' worth in one night. They took me to the doctor and did tons of tests, but I was normal. I tried to explain Gaea to them, but they wouldn't listen, so I gave up. To keep my sanity, I started running. Running is more acceptable than story telling. So while I'm legally 21, I'm actually more like 24."

Hitomi put her hand over Lisa's. "If you want," Hitomi said, "you can stay. Van wouldn't mind, I'm sure of it." 

The hope in Lisa's eyes could reduce a person to tears. "Really? I can live here on Gaea? Really?" Hitomi nodded. Lisa jumped up and hugged her fiercely. "Oh, thank-you, Hitomi! How could I ever repay your for the gift you've given me?"

Hitomi smiled. "By attending the wedding I brought you here for."

---------

She was nervous. Her mother and Yukari and a million maids rushed around her to finish making little touches to her hair and her gown. In the Fanalian style, it reached the ground in front of her, and trailed behind for several feet. The veil was made of silver, and the embroidery on the gown was a pattern of dragons in flight. She'd decided to wear the pendants instead of the large, heavy necklace she'd been presented with. 

"Hitomi," said her mother. She looked up from her study of her necklaces. "It's time." 

Hitomi followed her mother down the hall and waited at the back of the garden while everyone was seated. When the music started, her father walked her down the aisle. There were hushed whispers and comments made to neighbors as she passed, hopefully good ones. She was at the altar all too soon, and she numbly took Van's hand. 

In a daze, she recited her vows, and looked into Van's eyes as he said his. _What are you thinking?_ she wondered. Then the priest said, "You may now kiss the bride."

Van lifted the veil and they gazed at each other. Then they kissed, and Hitomi heard her heart beating in her ears. No, she heard two hearts, beating at the same time. Then she felt warmth against her chest and she pulled away from Van and raised a hand to the pink pendant. She felt it pulsing in her hand, and she let it go. What was that all about?

He escorted her down the aisle and out to the reception area set up under the trees. She heard a bird sing and looked up. It was a beautiful day, warm with a light breeze and sunny. Perfect. Then they started to receive the congratulations of all 234 guests. Hitomi noticed tears in her parents' eyes, and her brother Yoii came up with Merle. Another romance from the Mystic Moon? Hitomi mused over the idea as she greeted Chid and King Aston. 

A couple of the last people in line, Millerna and Dryden came up and the Princess said, "That was a beautiful wedding, Hitomi. You did a wonderful job." 

Remembering that Millerna's own wedding had been interrupted by Folkin's luck soldiers in pursuit of her, Hitomi said, "I just wish yours hadn't been ruined because of me." Millerna shook her head.

"It wasn't your fault. Oh, and look who showed up in the nick of time," Millerna turned to her right and Hitomi saw Alan crossing the clearing towards them.

"Alan!" she cried and he gave her a hug. "You made it back! How did your search go?"

He smiled down at her with a twinkle in his eyes and said, "You'll just have to wait a little longer."

Then Lisa rushed over with a couple of glasses. "Come on you two," she said, handing the glasses to Hitomi and Van. "You can't miss the well-wishing toasts to your future!" Hitomi grinned and silently wished she'd worn a gown like Lisa's. It was a deep blue evening gown that was simple, if a little clingy. Rhinestones ran along the hem and neckline in intricate swirls like the rhinestone tattoo on Lisa's shoulder. It was sleeveless and had a throw of the same deep blue as the dress. Lisa's hair was piled up in dark brown waves.

"Lisa," Hitomi said," I'd like you to meet Alan Schezar, a Knight of Caeli." Then she turned to Alan and said, "Alan, this is Lisa Grout, a friend of mine from the Mystic Moon who spent a few years here as a child. Perhaps you could help catch her up on some things?" Later Van accused her of match making, and she didn't try to deny it.

Their wedding night was amazing, and when the couple emerged from their chamber two days later, it was to see Hitomi's brother off on his search for a dragon. Hitomi and Van spent the rest of the day opening wedding gifts in the company of their friends. Hitomi had sent Amano and Yukari back to Earth after the reception, but Lisa seemed to have spent the past two days in Alan's company. 

One of the last gifts showed signs of hasty wrapping, and there was no card. "It's from me," Alan said. Hitomi and Van looked at him suspiciously, and Hitomi unwrapped it. She opened the box and gasped.

"Oh, Alan," she said. She took out the three pendants and they glittered in the light that came through the window. Van took them from her hand and put them around her neck, one by one. The second the last one was on they began to pulse. The occupants of the room let out shouts of surprise as they were drowned in a bright golden light.

Then Hitomi saw the vision again. She jumped as someone put their hand on her shoulder. She knew without turning around that it was Van, and looked over to see that they were all there. Her parents, Alan, Merle, Millerna, Dryden, Selena, Lisa, all of them. Van looked around and said, "Is this the vision you were talking about?"

Hitomi looked around and said, "Yes." She held out her hand, the pink pendant rested in her palm. Then she watched Lisa come forward with the white pendant. 

"What am I doing with this?" she asked. Hitomi felt her neck, the pendants were all gone. 

"I don't know," she said. Van stared at the beach and began to feel ill. He swayed and collapsed, his stomach doing flip-flops and his vision spinning. "Van!" Hitomi cried. 

Suddenly, they were back in the castle. Hitomi was kneeling by Van, who lay unconscious on the floor. "Van!" she said. Then she looked at Alan and Dryden and said, "Help me get him to bed." They picked him up and carried him into his room. Van was pale, and his breathing shallow. "Oh, Van," Hitomi whined.

Merle tried shaking him, but he didn't stir. "Wake up, Lord Van!" she said. He didn't move. "Oh…" she said, sniffing. Then a guard banged into the doorframe, his face red and his breath coming in gasps.

"Sirs, Queen, Lord Yoii just fell out of the sky!" Hitomi ran from the room. She dashed down the hall, following the guards who pointed her in the direction of the front gate. She burst out into the sunlight and saw Yoii lying on the courtyard steps, a healer leaning over him.

Hitomi knelt by his side and looked him over. A small trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. Clutched in his hand was a leather-wrapped metal bottle. Guessing at its contents, Hitomi pried the lid off. It was half full of a green liquid. "Dragon's blood," the healer whispered, and she stared at Yoii. 

Hoping there was enough, Hitomi tipped some of liquid into Yoii's open mouth. One heartbeat passed, two, and she briefly considered giving him more when he gasped and his eyes opened wide. He sat up and leaned over to one side, coughing. "Are you Okay?" Hitomi asked him. "Yoii?"

He stopped hacking and looked up. "I got it, didn't I? Now Mom will be fine." Then he stood up and groaned. "That's quite a kick in the gut. I feel like new." 

The healing woman stared. "But—but your ribs were broken!"

Yoii smiled and said, "Ah, the miracles of dragon blood. If it weren't for this pendant here I'd've been a goner." Hitomi stared at the green pendant. She felt around her neck, they were all gone except for her original one. Then she recapped the bottle and led Yoii inside. 

Van was waiting, and told the castle doctor to mix a mouthful of dragon's blood with an equal amount of wine to dilute it. Hitomi watched her mother anxiously as she drank the mixture. Mrs. Kanzaki grimaced at the taste, but her color improved almost immediately. Abruptly, she straightened and smiled. "It's gone! The headache is gone!" Hitomi jumped up and gave her mother a hug, then her brother, and her father, and Van.

Lisa came up to Hitomi and held out the white pendant. Hitomi shook her head. "It's not for me, that's clear enough. Not only did we all see the vision with me holding only one pendent, but that one was in your hand. No, it was meant for you." Then she turned to Van and said, "When did you wake up? One second you're in bed, the next you're giving the healer tips on dealing with dragon blood cures."

Van grinned and gave her a light kiss. "I woke up a minute after you left to check on Yoii." Hitomi kissed him back.

"Enough, you two," Merle said. Van and Hitomi paused and smiled, but kept kissing. "You might want to think about taking it elsewhere?" Hitomi blushed and Van laughed, and take it elsewhere they did.


	4. I've Seen The Ocean

::Yay! Two more reviews! This means another chapter! I have to ask if you want the last chapter REALLY long or if two slightly shorter ones are okay, though. Whaddya want?? Okay, without further delay, ficcy!::

There was a formal dinner served to celebrate the recovery of Hitomi's mother. Her family was more carefree and relaxed that night than the whole time they'd been on Gaea. Her parents insisted on not imposing on Van's hospitality any longer than necessary, and after a week they had acquired (through Van) a rather large inn on the road to Austuria. Millerna, Dryden, Alan, and Selena left a couple of weeks after the wedding because of their duties back home. Hitomi tried stalling her parent's departure, but eventually gave in to the inevitable.

"I'm going to miss you," she said to her mother on the day of their, tears in her eyes. 

"Oh, don't cry, at least we'll be in the same country," her mother said. Yoii had decided he'd stay behind and continue the lessons he'd started getting from Van in swordsmanship, become a knight. The children bid their parents farewell and watched the plain coach leave the castle gates and go down the road and around a bend. Hitomi gazed at the road for a while after the coach was out of sight before turning around and going back to dealing with queen business.

Van's advisors were relieved their king had finally married, but they wanted an heir. The assassination attempt had scared them out of their wits, and they hoped that a wife would force Van to spend less time abroad, in the least make him take an armed escort. No such luck. While the attack had scared Hitomi and made them both cautious, being able to mingle with normal people as confidently as he did was something Van's people admired in him. Most of the time they completely forgot he was a Draconian. 

One of Hitomi's hobbies, now that she understood the workings of castle and country, was gathering information on Atlantis. It wasn't an obsession, just an avid interest in the pendants' role in current events. Yoii left with the small group of soldiers Fanalia sent to Gous, saying he'd enjoy an opportunity to get away from the soft life.

This left Hitomi with only Lisa and Merle to talk to when Van was away on business, which was often. She and Merle had come to accept each other, but they couldn't help but tease each other once in a while It was a hard habit to break. Lisa enjoyed her new life on Gaea as Hitomi's lady-in-waiting. She confided in Hitomi that she'd lived with a woodsman and his wife for the three years she'd spent on Gaea as a child. When Hitomi spoke of it to Merle, the cat-woman had jumped up and said with enthusiasm, "I know who that is! They live just a half-day's walk to the west! We can go visit!" 

When Hitomi told Lisa, her friend had grown pale. "What if they think I returned to Earth because I didn't like them? What if they don't want to see me?" Hitomi decided a trip to meet her friend's former foster parents was just what was needed, and made the necessary arrangements.

They left a few days later, Merle carrying a picnic basket, and Lisa biting her nails and tripping on the hem of her new dress. Hitomi had insisted on them all wearing plain dresses and going without an escort. The most worrisome of Van's advisors, Velt Reed, had almost fainted when she'd mentioned the excursion. Certain his fears were unfounded, she'd simply 'insisted' and eventually got her way.

It was just before noon when they arrived at a quaint little cottage in the woods. Nearby an elderly man stacked wood. In a small garden to the side of the cottage there was an old woman collecting greens and vegetables. Merle raised her voice and waved her hands above her head, "Hi! I'm back! And look who I brought with me!"

The old man turned with a smile on his face and said, "Well my, my, it looks like Merle brought some friends." The old woman came out of the garden, shutting the gate behind her, and came over at and easy walk. Merle, being impatient, rushed over and dragged Lisa with her. The old woman lost her smile and studied Lisa. Seeing her reaction, the old man came over.

"Meg, Dece, meet Lisa. She's from the Mystic Moon," Merle said with her usual energy. Hitomi had followed at a more sedate pace and waited to be introduced. Merle ignored her, and instead continued on about Lisa. "She says she lived with you guys for a while when she was a kid. She finished growing up back on the Mystic Moon, but came here for the Lord Van's wedding and decided to stay."

The old woman, Meg, stared at Lisa and then her eyes watered and she trapped the young woman in an enthusiastic hug. Dece hung back and just watched, teary-eyed until his wife was done checking Lisa over for any damage she might have sustained in the years she'd been gone, then he ruffled Lisa's hair as if she were a child and said, "It's good to see ye haven' forgotten us."

Lisa gave them both another hug and then turned and held a hand out to Hitomi, who'd stood by and watched silently, grinning at her friend's obvious happiness. "This is my best friend, Hitomi. We went to school together on the Mystic Moon and it's thanks to her that I got to come back."

Dece and Meg gasped. "Ye mean…This is…" Meg stammered, and she immediately curtsied. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, I didn' recognize ye."

Dece bowed low and asked for forgiveness as well. Hitomi smiled and said, "Nothing to forgive. We don't have many kings and queens on the Mystic Moon, so I don't expect anyone to treat me any differently than they would anybody else." She poked Merle and the girl handed over the basket. 

"Here," Merle said, offering the basket's contents to the woodcutter and his wife. "We brought some food for a picnic and would be delighted if you would join us." The kitten-like gaze she gave the couple almost made Hitomi choke. _If she were anyone else, that would count as blackmail…_

Meg grinned and said, "Why, we couldn' refuse." The group chose a spot by a stream where Lisa had learned to swim, and talked about memories and old times. Merle was content to sit and listen to Dece and Meg talk about Lisa as a child. Some of the stories made Lisa blush, but on the whole, it seemed she'd been the daughter the old couple had never had.

At long last, they returned to the castle. "Lisa," Hitomi had asked, "are you sure you don't want to stay with them? I mean, they are sort of your family."

Lisa had shaken her head. "No, I'll love them for as long as I live, but in truth I'd rather make my own life. Besides, you can't be _that_ eager to get rid of me."

Hitomi had let the matter rest, and returned to the room she now shared with Van to change into cleaner clothes. As she did so, she realized something. Her period was late. In fact, in all that had happened so far during her marriage, she'd completely missed missing two months. Feeling brief excitement over this, she quickly finished changing and went to the castle midwife before planning dinner.

Van returned from his trip to the border five days later. He'd gone to see the troops off, almost sad that he couldn't join them. "I just wish there was a way we could know for sure if they can even handle the power. If only I could've gone with them," he said wistfully. 

Hitomi leaned against him on the balcony and said sleepily, "I'm glad you didn't go. Yoii going is bad enough, but I need you here." Van gazed down at his now sleeping wife and held her close. How could he have been so luckless in the first week of his reign, then so fortunate in just the past year? Hitomi had returned to him, she had her family here now, too. Her brother was a natural strategist, better than Alan even, and was leading the Fanalian troops in a campaign against a power that would soon be safely contained. Add to that that, Hitomi had married him, become his queen. The love they felt for each other was almost too great for their fragile bodies to contain.

The moonlight reflected off the pendant hanging around her neck. He'd worn it six years, then returned it to her, and now there were four more. One had gone to Yoii, one to her friend Lisa, but who had the other two?

-------

She tossed and turned on her bed, it was too hot, too dry. With a sigh she threw back the sheets and walked across the floor to the wash basin. One day they'd have been lucky to have enough water for the horses, the next they were taking regular baths in pools of water that never dried up. She tipped the basin over her head and sighed at the feeling of the water against her skin. A quick glance out the window told her it was late morning and she should be up. 

For some reason, her father—the chief—had decided their clan would stay at this water hole. It was too big to be a water hole, more like an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Day after day it never dried up, no matter how much they used. Soon people from all around the world started to arrive to set up shops or farms. Good soil had appeared out of thin air one night, providing plenty of good land as long as it was watered properly. Then the soldiers had started to show up, and they built walls and battlements out of stone around her clan's camp. Now she lived in a large house, with wood furniture, and slept on a bed instead of her old rugs. 

Why had this happened? Her father was never surprised about any of it. The people all seemed so afraid of him, because just as surely as people appeared, they disappeared. Because her father had never needed to be told about the new house or farmstead which appeared overnight, Lika had never seen it necessary to tell him about the beautiful necklace that had appeared around her neck. It was gold, with a bright blue stone that reminded her of endless expanses of water. She knew she'd seen the ocean before, but her father said she hadn't. 'You were born in the desert, my child, but I will not have you dry up and die here,' he'd told her when she was still little. As she grew up, she'd half forgotten about it.

She knew something was different about her from her other sisters and brothers. They all had dark hair, dark brown eyes, and dark skin. Her hair was bleached white as clouds, her eyes were light blue, and her skin was always paler than theirs. They loved to tease her for it, especially since it made her their father's favorite. But lately, not even that could protect her from the pranks of her siblings. Without the endless hours of work they used to have, they could spend more time torturing her. 

Father had also been changing lately. He was turning fat, and he was always sleeping when he wasn't eating or talking. As the eldest daughter of the clan's headman, she was supposed to marry, but at nineteen she wasn't ready. She'd tried to tell him she'd never be ready, wherever she went people stared at the pale girl in native clothes. No man would willingly marry the outcast of the headman's family. Her father had plenty of other daughters from his five marriages. As he told it, her mother had died giving birth to her, so she had no one to go to besides him, and she couldn't tell him about her sibling's antics. If she did, things were bound to get worse.

Then the siege had begun. Troops from the King had arrived on their fields demanding the energist her father kept in his deepest of vaults. She could hear him ranting about the power not working, just bouncing off something the soldiers carried with them. Only yesterday, two days after the siege had begun, her father was found dead in his bed. It was assumed he'd died of a heart attack, and Lika had no reason to doubt it. She only worried now about what her eldest brother, Timo, was going to do.

She dressed, and after a brief hesitation, pinned some of her jewelry to the inside of her skirts. Lika walked down the hall to the breakfast room and stopped short. Only her brother Timo, now headman, and a stranger were seated at the table. She was used to being the first to the morning meal, but allowed herself a mental shrug and sat in her usual spot. 

Timo looked up as she sat down and smiled. Lika didn't like that smile. "Sister, I have been talking with Captain Yoii here about the surrender terms." Lika looked at the stranger and was surprised to see him staring at her neck. What was wrong with him? Was he one of those northerners who drank blood? No, they weren't supposed to come out in the sunlight…

"I am honored to meet you," Lika said. The captain nodded and said,

"As I am honored to meet you." This genuine greeting surprised Lika, and it surprised her brother a bit, that was obvious, but the captain didn't seem to pay their surprise any mind. He took a sip of juice and ignored the look Lika was giving him.

Timo cleared his throat and said, "Anyway, in addition to taking over command of the energist, I have asked them to take you to one of their cities so you can find a decent husband. They have not answered yet on the terms."

Captain Yoii sipped his coffee and said, "I can assure you, my sister would be thrilled to have Lady Lika stay with us and arrange a marriage. It shouldn't be a problem." This was obviously news to her brother. 

The rest of the family arrived and they ate in silence. After the meal, Lika got up and followed her brother into the hall. "Why are you sending me away?" she asked him. Timo turned slowly and sneered.

"You're a blemish in this household, a flaw. Father never should have adopted you."

Lika couldn't believe what she'd just head. "What?"

Timo laughed. "We found you wandering around the desert. Father brought you into our tent one night and my mother revived you. My baby sister had just died you see, and you were little more than a baby yourself, so you were accepted as his daughter, but never as one of _us_. No desertman would ever want to marry you. As I see it, I'm doing you a favor. You now get to see that ocean you talked about so much."

Too stunned to move, Lika watched him go down the hall after the captain. Why? Why had father lied to her? Was he afraid she'd run away to find her real parents? Where would she have run to? 

Wait, if she left the clan, she could get away from her siblings. No more jokes, no more pranks, no more stares. Yes! She'd go with the captain to his sister's home. What would she be like? Would she be nice? Was she rich?

Lika packed in a rush, but only one small bag. They hadn't lived in one place long enough for her gather many personal belongings. She waited at the door for the captain. He came down the steps with a strong box. Presumably it held the energist her brother had seemed so happy to be rid of. Timo saw her at the door and grinned and waved goodbye. She raised a hand in farewell and followed the captain and his escort to the gates of the town. 

The captain's camp was where the party seemed to be. Men of all shapes and colors were milling around. The captain set the box down in his tent and turned to see her standing patiently by the tent flap. "My men have cleared out one of the smaller tents for you to use for tonight. Sir Alan's ship is going to be stopping by tomorrow to take us and the men from Austuria home. I would appreciate your joining me for dinner tonight so I could explain what will happen when we get back."

Warmed by his kindness, Lika curtsied quickly and dashed out to find the smallest of the green tents. To her surprise, a bedroll and small table with a lamp had been left for her. She left her bag on the table and walked around the camp. The soldiers were all polite and friendly, not a one asking her what she was doing in the middle of their camp. A group in the same colors as Captain Yoii invited her to share their lunch and she silently listened to their stories of prowess in other battles or in training.

At dusk, she sought the captain's tent once again. He wasn't there, so she sat at the table and waited. It was almost dark before he returned with a small pot of stew and some drinks. "Sorry," he said, with a slight accent she couldn't identify. "Here, I hope you like stew, it's the best food we've had in weeks." He dug in with enthusiasm and she ate hers a little more slowly.

When they were finished he sat back and sighed. "Ah, just like mother used to make, but better." Seeing her surprise he said, "Everything tastes better here. My whole family noticed when we arrived, I think my parents put on some pounds, but my sister just runs them off."

Lika looked at her bowl. She was feeling a little uncomfortable around this relaxed captain from the north. She asked, "Why did you agree to take me back with you?"

Captain Yoii scratched his head, "Well, let's see. First, I noticed your necklace." Lika's hand flew up to her neck where the pendant was. To her amazement, the captain took out an almost identical pendant from underneath his shirt. "It's one of a set my sister had collected. They got scattered around when she put them all on. I got one, her best friend got one, and now, so do you. The only thing I could think of doing was either take you if you were the unfortunate Lika, or risk my sister's wrath and kidnap you."

Lika gasped. "Kidnap me? Over a necklace?" She undid the clasp and held it out. "If it's just the necklace you want, here. I have no use for it." He shook his head.

"It doesn't work that way. If you have that pendant, it's because it was meant for you. If Hitomi couldn't keep them all, I'm certainly not going to try." He sipped his drink. "Now, once we get to Fanalia—"

"Fanalia!" Lika said. "Where a Draconian is the king, and the queen is from the Mystic Moon? That Fanalia?"

Yoii looked a little irritated. "Yes, the Queen of Fanalia is my sister. You see, so far everyone who has one of these pendants is from the Mystic Moon." He looked at her meaningfully.

Lika laughed. "You mean to tell me you think I'm from the Mystic Moon?" 

Now he looked surprised. "Well, aren't you? Oh, it doesn't matter, Hitomi will probably have some way of knowing when we get back." Silently he made a note to ask Hitomi about this whole 'Draconian' thing. _What's the big deal? Van's normal enough._

They discussed Lika's past a little while and she realized that she very well could be from the Mystic Moon. The circumstances around her adoption and her appearance certainly wasn't normal for the desert region. Maybe…

It took two weeks to cross the Gous desert and hills on the _Crusade_. In Austuria, Lika was shown entire cities built of stone and wood. Yoii took her to visit Millerna and Dryden, the latter spent countless hours studying the blue pendant in his study. The last princess of Austuria spent quite some time talking to Lika about court life in Fanalia. Lika was fascinated by it. She still found it hard to believe that she was going to live with the King and Queen of Fanalia. To think, that she was actually from the Mystic Moon. How exciting life had become!

The group of Fanalian soldiers left Austuria's capital in high spirits and with visions of home on the horizon. It took half a week to cross the mountains into Fanalia because of weather, and when they entered the castle, Lika thought she'd go blind. People were streaming out of the gates and doors into the courtyard to greet the men who'd come home. Brightly colored clothes and banners were all around, a shock to her senses, if not as much as the abundance of trees. Then the whole scene seemed to pause when a young woman appeared at the top of the steps. She had relatively short, light brown hair, green eyes, and looked about Lika's height. Her gown was a light blue, and even though it was simple, it was very well made. Across her forehead one could see a thin gold circlet, and around her neck was a gold pendent. 

She ran forward, holding up her skirt only to let go once she'd reached Captain Yoii so she could wrap her arms around his neck. He returned the embrace and whispered something in her ear, which made her back up and look him over again. 

The other soldiers had dismounted and were kneeling. A tall man now stood at the steps coming down. He had a shock of black hair and  warm, brown eyes. In all, the way he carried himself made it clear who he was. One of the soldiers kneeling nearby said, "Don't you know to curtsy when you're in the company of royalty?" Lika quickly did her best and felt her legs tremble as she tried to maintain the position. Finally the king nodded to them all and they stood. She sighed with relief. King Van spoke in a low voice to a couple men, then the young woman in blue came over and gave him a peck on the cheek before whispering in his ear. Queen Hitomi?

Then the Captain spoke to the couple and the King of Fanalia went to one of the carts they'd brought back with them. Suddenly, Yoii and the queen were standing in front of her and he said, "This is Lika, she's been living with the desert people since she was an infant. She agrees that she may have come from Earth, and look." Yoii pointed to Lika's pendant and she started to wish she were invisible.

The young woman gasped and stared at Lika's throat. "She does have one of the pendants! Please, tell me how you got it?" she asked. 

Lika swallowed and dipped her head a bit as she said, "I woke up one morning and it was in my hand, Your Majesty." Hitomi waved a hand and said,

"Don't bother with the 'Your Majesty' stuff, not if we're to spend the next few weeks together. Now, follow me and I'll show you to a room." Lika reached up and grabbed her bag off her horse. Queen Hitomi led the way inside, with Lika right behind her.

------

He could have given me more notice, Hitomi thought glumly. She and Yoii had figured out that they could use the pendants to communicate over distances, and he had told her about the girl and the blue pendant only two nights earlier. Hitomi had rushed around for two days to prepare for the soldier's arrival. No one questioned how their queen knew when the men would arrive, or why she would need a seamstress to be available. Lika's desert skirts wouldn't hold up to Fanalian weather.

She turned down halls and across large rooms until they reached the hall of bedrooms close to the royal chambers. Then she counted the doors until she reached the one cleaned up for Lika's use. "Here, you can get settled for now. The privy is over there, and I'll be back shortly to help. Welcome to Fanalia!" Hitomi closed the door and rushed back down the hall. Yoii came around the corner with Van and she almost bumped into them. 

Yoii looked down at her. He had grown. "Is she in a room? I think she's going to need new clothes, that desert stuff won't do much good out here," he said. 

Hitomi nodded. "Yes, I already arranged for a seamstress to come and she should arrive soon. Right now, I have to check up on the feast, see you soon." She gave him and Van a peck on the cheek before scurrying off towards the kitchen. 

Van and Yoii watched Hitomi go. Yoii stared after her, then looked at Van. "What was that for?" he asked. Van looked at his brother-in-law in surprise.

"Didn't she tell you? She's pregnant." Yoii blinked. Then he shook his head and said,

"Mom's not going to like hearing that. She told Hitomi not to even think about kids until she was in her mid twenties because, in my Mom's opinion, early marriages never work out. However, I think she'll make an exception. I've seen her look at you, and I must say, I'm jealous that she could ever love anyone as much as you."

"Jealous? She loves you, too." They started towards Yoii's room when Merle came rushing around the corner at the far end of the hall.

"Yoii! You're back!" she cried. Yoii's face lit up and he swung Merle around in circles when she jumped into his arms. "How are you? Are you Okay? Did you do any fighting?" Van left the two to catch up and went to his study. Merle and Yoii, who'd have guessed? 

He went to the map room to check up on something. He pulled out a map of the world and pulled out a handful of markers. First he marked Fanalia with two dots, then one in the dragon's forest, then one in the Gous desert. _Hmm, where could the last pendant be? Who has it?_ Questions, questions, so many questions. The wish-powered energist sat in a lock box on the desk in his study. He swore at the foolishness of leaving it there, and opened the vault behind his bookcase. 

Before putting it away, he opened the box and looked at it. The energist glowed an eerie red. His heart pounding, he slammed the lid down and locked it. He shoved it as far back as it would go and closed the vault. Then he leaned against the wall and sighed. Now what? How was he to destroy it? He doubted it could be destroyed as easily as a normal energist, and hadn't found anything in his studies that suggested a means by which to cancel its power or get rid of it. The idea had just never occurred to the Draconians, so it hadn't been written about. But there had to be _something_ he could do. He was expecting a baby to be born in several months, and didn't want it to live in the same world as _that_ thing.

He didn't want Hitomi in any danger, either. Part of all of their theories on destroying it based itself on Hitomi and the other pendant bearers using the pendants to purify something. Whether it was an abused Gaea, or the energist itself, they all involved Hitomi. He wondered if that much power was safe for an unborn child, if it was safe for any living thing. There was nothing he could do right now, they just had to find the last one, the yellow one, but where? 

The blue pendant had been found in the desert, the white had appeared to Lisa in Fanalia, the pink to Hitomi on the Mystic Moon, the green to Yoii in the forest. There was no pattern! Oh, wait! There was! Van immediately pulled a book out of a stack on the desk and started scanning the pages. There was a connection; they were all from the Mystic Moon! So the other pendant had to be in the hands of someone who was also a native of that planet. This book had mentioned something about a day when people from the Mystic Moon would travel to Gaea to renew powers lying dormant. 

He hadn't paid much attention to it, because when he'd read it Hitomi had just told him she was pregnant. Cursing himself for letting his wits falter because of personal matters, he found the chapter. It was only a page or two long, but it spelled everything out. The bearers of blue light would come from the Mystic Moon to renew the blood and power of Gaea! He read on. They would come at varying stages of life to become acquainted with the planet and its power. In two groups of two and one at adulthood. Well, Yoii was obviously in adulthood. Lisa and Lika had come as toddlers, but Lisa had returned later on. Hitomi had come alone the first time, and her grandmother before her. That didn't make sense! No—wait—forget Hitomi's grandmother, she didn't have time to really get to know Gaea. So someone else must have arrived on Gaea when Hitomi did, and near her age, but who?

Van finished the chapter and shut the book. There'd been no clues as to the prophesied peoples' locations when they would be needed, but plenty on how they were "the renewers of the Blood of Gaea's power" and so forth. Van didn't get it. _How do you renew the blood of a planet? And what's Gaea's power? Just give me answers!_

He left the study for dinner an hour or so later. The grand hall had two more tables set up to accommodate all the necessary guests, and some were already milling about, finding seats. Guessing he wasn't supposed to appear yet, he turned around and went to find Hitomi. 

She was leaving their latest guest's room and paying the seamstress, thanking her and her assistants profusely. Seeing Van, Hitomi snatched his hand with a smile and said, "Come and see her!" Not being able to refuse, he followed her into the room. 

Lika had on a beautiful dress, which suited her tan skin much better than the robes and layers she'd worn before. It was a simple cut and an interesting shade of light green. The edges had been done in gold thread, much like most of Hitomi's everyday dresses. There were a few more frills on the hem, though, and the neckline was much more complex, at least four descending layers pulling back to reveal the blue pendent. A nice touch, it changed a simple dress into a simple gown suitable for a feast.

Hitomi beamed at Lika and said, "Turn around!" The young woman did so and he saw that the back also had the numerous layers, but the last was trimmed with fine lace. "All of that done in less than an hour! I really didn't pay that poor woman enough!" 

Lika smiled and rolled her eyes. "Oh, I think the court treasurer will say you spent quite enough on me. I can't thank you enough! I've never had to get fitted for gowns like this before, let alone five of them!"

Van put a hand on Hitomi's shoulder and said to his guest, "Please excuse us, we have to finish getting ready for the feast. I'll send someone to take you there and get you seated." He pulled Hitomi toward the door and down the hall to their room. Once there, he changed out of his casual clothes and put on a long-sleeved shirt, fresh pants, and a stiff tunic with a dragon embroidered on the back. He turned to see Hitomi pull on some kidskin slippers colored to match her gown. It was a dark green, like his tunic, with dragonheads embroidered on the hem and neckline. Unlike her usual clothes, it had petticoats underneath and was topped off with a pair of diamond earrings.

Arm in arm, they left the room. First Van checked Lika's room to make sure she had been shown the way to the feast, and then he and Hitomi went themselves. The dining hall was full of laughter and voices. There was a brief lull in the conversation when he and Hitomi arrived, but that was to be expected. Everyone bowed, moved to their seats, and sat at Van's signal.

Lika sat next to Merle on Van's left. He and Hitomi sat at the head of the table together. To Hitomi's right sat Lisa and Yoii. They learned very quickly to pronounce Lisa and Lika's names clearly or else to be confronted by both. They were very forgiving, but not when Yoii mixed up the names on purpose. The meal was your typical grab and eat feast. Manners at this kind of thing were to use your knife only to cut something away from the serving dish, use a spoon only for the soup, and don't hold anything with more than three fingers. 

Grease got all over everyone and everything. Maids winced at the sight, knowing they would have to launder the tablecloths and clothes when it was over. The relaxed atmosphere made the occasion all that more enjoyable. Van and Hitomi learned about Lika's life in the desert as the 'pale one' while Lika learned about the two monarchs and the significance of her pendant. She found it absolutely fascinating that the comforts and good fortune her family had come into had been stolen from other lands. Is that where the people had come from? Why didn't they say so? So the spring at that village had dried up?

The meal was over by eleven, and everyone staggered off to bed, stuffed as full as pillows. Van and Hitomi walked Lika, Lisa, Merle, and Yoii back to their rooms, and then stumbled into their own. Hitomi sat on the bed and moaned, "I'm not going to eat for a week! This baby'll be too fat to be born!" Somehow, she and Van got dressed for bed and under the sheets before falling asleep.


	5. Love it Seems Comes From Flying Dreams

::Okay! After this is only the epilogue, so savor the chapter. ^_^ Sorry for the delay in getting this out (over a week, owie) but the semester is ending and my work load would ground the Crusade. Those who read the first version of the story will notice I cut out a character, Tobor. He really didn't serve much of a purpose, so I dropped him into the recycle bin. Please review!::

~Earth~

She woke up in a cold sweat. They were calling her! Oh, why couldn't she just remember? Darcy sat up and got out of bed. She stumbled into the bathroom and splashed her face with water. Seven years ago she had visited a world in turmoil, only to return twice to relive the same day she had left. Strange, yes, but it had proven how much she loved Riu. In the past year she had started having feinting spells when she would relive her experiences on Gaea. Lately the feinting spells had become more frequent and longer, always ending with a scene of Prince Riu falling away from her, calling her back.

Then the pendant had come. She felt around her neck and drew it out from under her nightshirt to gaze at it in the mirror. The yellow stone matched her eyes perfectly, the gold accenting her night black hair. A few nights ago she had been dreaming the same dream ending with Riu falling and calling, but this time the pendant had swung between them like a rope. When she woke up, it had been clutched in her hand. 

Every night she had the same dream. Her feinting spells during the day could last for several minutes and occur every ten. While she had been excused from attending her classes to get medical attention, no doctor could find anything wrong. They had suggested stress management therapy, one had said she should be sent to a hospital, but she knew none of it would work. What she needed, none of them could give her. She needed to go back to Gaea, to see Riu and feel his arms around her again, to watch the sun rise over the mountains that separated Riu's country of Basram from Fanalia.

Fanalia: the land where a Draconian was king. There had been rumors while she was in Basram about him traveling around with a girl her age from the Mystic Moon, what the people of Gaea called Earth. Darcy had never had the chance to meet her. Supposedly, this girl and the king had fallen in love at the end of the war with Zaibach, but Darcy had left too soon to know if it was true or not, or if anything would come of it. She had been interested, because Riu was the heir to the Basram throne, and she was a commoner from the Mystic Moon, and their position had been much the same. The difference was Van Fanel was already king, Riu was not. Or had Riu become king and already married? Darcy had no way of knowing except for her dreams, which made it clear he still loved her. 

Darcy climbed back into bed and pulled the sheets up to her chin as the tears washed down her cheeks. I want to go—home!

~Gaea~

The carriage jarred Hitomi awake. Van smiled down at her as she sat up and leaned against the back of the seat. She was getting bigger, and she had been forced to buy all new clothes for their visit to Basram. This particular gown was still a bit big, but she'd been assured she'd grow into it. A few minutes after they'd set out she'd fallen asleep against his shoulder. That had been early morning, it was now just past noon. Van knocked on the roof of the carriage. It pulled to a halt. He opened the door and got out, guiding a sleepy and slightly awkward Hitomi out into the chilled air. "Time for a quick stop and lunch," he said. The whole caravan stopped and unloaded food from the cart in back. 

Snow made a picnic seem like a ridiculous idea, but they made the best of it by spreading four heavy blankets on the ground. Hitomi was wearing three layers of clothing in addition to her light spring cape and heavy fur cloak, more for Van's benefit than because she was cold. He helped her sit down on the blanket and handed her a canteen of lukewarm soup. She frowned at the soup as she drank it. "I still can't get used to this extra weight, it's like walking around with a basket full of grapes glued to your hip," Hitomi growled. 

Merle plopped down languidly and said, "If you wanted to be graceful, you shouldn't have gotten pregnant, so there's no use complaining about it." Hitomi glared at Merle, who smiled showing all of her teeth. Lisa sat on the edge of the blanket and made a snowball before opening her lunch. 

Lika, who had been flattered to be invited, took care to choose a spot free of snow before sitting down slowly to keep her snow-covered boots off the blanket. The others ignored this ritual because they had gotten used to it during the week they had been traveling. She took out her soup and hummed with delight at its warmth. At the last inn there had been plenty of room for everyone to have a bed, and they had been sent off with hot stew from the innkeeper's wife. Traveling with a very popular royal couple had its advantages.

"We should be out of the mountains by evening. There are plenty of inns around the pass, so everyone will have a warm bed tonight. I just hope we find what we need," Van said. Everyone nodded. The answer to the wish-energist question was the five pendants and their holders. It had come to Merle's attention that there had been rumors of a girl from the Mystic Moon in the neighboring country of Basram. Apparently, this girl had stolen the Crown Prince Riu's heart before being whisked back home. He had refused to marry all of the princesses and ladies his father had tried to hook him up with, and was reportedly quite moody lately. Guessing it was the same person Hitomi had arrived with, they had set out as soon as the passes were opened. 

However, spring was still far away. Hitomi had been adamant on going, so naturally the others in her and Van's close circle had come. Yoii sat beside Merle, who smiled up at him. No secret there, Van was expecting the wedding to be announced in the spring. He had something else to look forward to in the meantime. Hitomi was expecting to give birth at the beginning of the spring rains, and he couldn't help but feel proud of himself every time he saw her. She was glowing, positively glowing!

"Let's keep moving," Van said. He stood and helped Hitomi to her feet. Soldiers folded the damp blankets and put them in the back of the cart. They would make better time now with the luggage so much lighter. The stew had been thick and heavy.

They made it to the other side of the mountains by evening, and had plenty of time to settle in before dark. Luckily, there were plenty of rooms available at the several different inns, and lots of food to feed the hungry travelers. After a good night's rest they were ready to continue down the road to Basram's capital. Hitomi managed to stay awake for this part of the trip, looking out the window at the snowy fields and homes. The royal palace was a sight to behold, perhaps a few halls larger than Fanalia's, and it had impressive stained glass windows.

Van helped Hitomi out of the carriage and Lisa and Lika followed. Merle and Yoii had insisted on riding alongside, and dismounted in time to meet their host. King Duke of Basram came down the steps to greet his noble visitors. With jealous eyes he looked at Hitomi's extended stomach and congratulated Van and Hitomi. He escorted the whole group into the grand hall to meet his son and daughters. King Duke had tried to get Van to marry one of the poor girls, but had failed. He had also failed to convince Prince Riu that any of the women in the whole world were any good. His jealousy of Van and Hitomi wasn't unfounded.

Van could tell right away why the prince had resisted marriage thus far. In the young man's eyes, Van could see the same expression of yearning love he had once seen in his own for Hitomi. No question, it had to be someone either already married, dead, or from the Mystic Moon. He hazarded to guess it was the latter and decided to talk to Riu at the earliest opportunity. Then they were being shown to their rooms, and he spent the rest of the day talking with the king. 

After breakfast the next morning, hunting down the somber prince proved easier than Van or Hitomi had anticipated. The young man found them on their way to one of the parlors for a warming cup of tea. Hitomi also insisted on crackers. The pregnancy was proving to be a demanding one, giving Hitomi the appetite of a bottomless pit. She didn't seem to be putting on any more weight than was obvious, so the midwife had said there was nothing to worry about.

"Queen Hitomi!" Prince Riu said as he turned the corner. The couple paused and he came towards them, acting slightly timid despite being the same age. "Um, I have a small question I'd like to ask you." Hitomi nodded and he said in a hushed whisper so only the three of them could hear, "Back on the Mystic Moon, did you know anyone named Darcy Miller?"

Hitomi and Van shared looks and she said, "I'm sorry, but no. However…you know someone from the Mystic Moon?" Riu looked a little surprised, but nodded slowly. Van and Hitomi shared looks again, and Hitomi said excitedly, "We would like to ask you some questions about your Darcy." He looked a little taken aback, but shrugged and followed them to the parlor where tea and biscuits were waiting. 

Hitomi saw the food and promptly sat down and buttered a biscuit. She had two before bothering to take a sip of tea. Riu stared. Van saw their companion's reaction and chuckled. "But—we just had breakfast! Wasn't there enough?" The poor prince seemed confused. Had the servants ignored her?

Hitomi sat back with another biscuit and said, "You talk to me again after your wife goes through her first pregnancy." She popped it into her mouth and said, "Now, who is Darcy?"

Riu seemed to brighten up as he spoke. "Darcy was found in the palace gardens about seven years ago. She was unconscious, and father thought someone among the servants had played a trick on her. He had her sent back to the servant's quarters, but the housekeeper sent her back to us because she didn't live there. Father gave her a guest room, and the maids all tended her like she was a visiting duchess. When she woke up, she asked where she was and was totally disoriented.

"We tried to explain to her that she was in Basram's capitol, but she couldn't get past the idea that she was on a planet called Gaea. Father gave up and said she had to be delirious or mad…My sisters and I weren't so sure though. I stayed with her for the afternoon and took her outside to where she'd been found, explaining the circumstances to her. Imagine my surprise when she looked up at the Mystic Moon and started crying about going home." He paused and asked Hitomi, "How did you feel when you arrived on Gaea, anyway?"

Hitomi bit her lip, " I was pretty irritated with Van at the time and didn't feel much homesickness at first." She took a sip of tea and Van waved for Riu to continue.

"Well, Father was surprised and sort of excited that she was from the Mystic Moon. It explained her clothes, weird pants she called "jeans," and her very elaborate sweater. I remember how well the sweater set off her eyes, they were bright yellow, and her hair was black and soft…" His voice trailed off a bit. Van cleared his throat and Riu snapped out of his trance and back into his story. "Oh, uh, anyway, she was treated like visiting royalty. Father had always studied the Mystic Moon and collects things that are believed to have come from it, he has a whole room filled with the stuff. Darcy got on his good side quickly because she gave him some of the things she'd brought with her.

"She'd been camping with some friends and had all of her gear when she arrived. Most of it is still here. She gave me some things, and only kept a few herself. You can see the rest of it with my father's collection. Darcy was very polite and courteous, and I think Father started to look upon her as an adoptive daughter. Then he had to prepare us for war with Zaibach because they had worked their way up to our borders and surrounded us after attacking Fanalia. The guymelefs got Darcy spooked. She saw them marching through the fields one day and started to shake." He paused, and swallowed. "Then she looked at Father in horror and a blue light came down from the Mystic Moon and sent her home."

Riu took a great gulp of his cooling tea and said, "I was walking in the same field the night after, with one of the things she'd given me." He dug into his pocket and brought out a little box. Hitomi saw the knob on the bottom and Riu turned it. The notes of the classic song, "Tomorrow" from _Annie_ filled the room. Hitomi hummed to the tune and Riu stared at her. "You know this song? She used to hum to it, too. Whenever I asked her what the words were, she'd just smile and say she'd tell me someday." He put the tiny music box back in his tunic pocket and said, "Well, that beam of light appeared again and she came back. She was wearing the same clothes she had been when she first arrived, but this time she was conscious and delighted to be here.

"Then, at the end of the war, we were walking in the garden and she said she wouldn't be able to stay because she had things to finish back home. That blue light came down again and she left." He looked defeated. Hitomi rested a hand on his shoulder and made him look up at her.

"You love her, don't you?" she said.

Riu sighed and nodded. "How could I not? I had just asked her to marry me when she said she couldn't stay. She never even said she loved me back before that dratted light took her away." He looked a little angry now, as if the blue light had taken her away just to make him suffer.

Then Van said, "We think she's either come back already, or will soon, Riu." The prince's fallen head shot up. "Hitomi collected five pendants, and thus far each has gone to a person from the Mystic Moon. The fifth should follow the pattern as well. I found an ambiguous and seemingly fruitless prophecy about five youths from the Mystic Moon who come in three groups…To renew Gaea's "Blood." I'm still trying to figure that one out."

Prince Riu looked at Van and then at Hitomi and her distended belly and chuckled. "I can't believe it, you of all people didn't figure out what the prophecy meant? Hello! You, who are about to become a father, don't know how the five people from the Mystic Moon are supposed to renew our blood?"

Van blinked, looked at Hitomi, and laughed. Hitomi looked at him in surprise, then the meaning dawned on her and she smiled. How bizarre, she wondered who Lisa would end up with? Or Lika? Or Yoii… Now that would take some thought, he loved a cat-woman. Hmmm…

They decided to try to bring Darcy to Basram from the garden. Riu was feeling anxious to say the least, and Hitomi couldn't help but feel excited. She took a deep breath and let it out. Then she held the pendant in both hands, closed her eyes, and wished. _Darcy, Darcy, can you hear me? Riu is here, Gaea needs you to come home._

At Riu's cry of surprise, she opened her eyes and saw the blue light appear. When it cleared away, a girl with thick, black hair wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt stood before them. The red shirt showed off the pendant beautifully. Hitomi noticed that it matched her eyes. Then Riu shot past and picked Darcy up and swung her around. At first Darcy seemed too surprised to move, then she clung to Riu and started to cry with joy. 

Van put an arm around Hitomi's shoulders and she leaned against him. Yes, she knew how they felt, but the joy of seeing Van again had been dampened by the holes left by poisoned arrows. Not liking those dark thoughts, she concentrated on the rejoicing couple. They kissed fiercely, and then Riu finally set Darcy on her feet. To Hitomi's surprise, Darcy was a good five inches shorter than herself. She looked a little tired, but if she was a college student that was excusable. 

Darcy saw Hitomi and Van and gasped. Riu let her go, but kept hold of her hand. Darcy walked toward them with her eyes wide and mouth hanging open like a fish and said, "You, I know you." Hitomi blinked. Did she know her? No, she'd have remembered those eyes. "You were in my dream, you told me to sprout wings and fly."

Hitomi felt slightly uncomfortable, but shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. I'm Hitomi de Fanel, and you must be Darcy Miller." Darcy smiled and shook her hand. Van and Riu watched the ceremony with interest.

Darcy smiled and said, "You're the girl from the Mystic Moon everyone was talking about when I was last here. Tell me, did you ever go back?" Hitomi nodded. Darcy sighed with relief, "At least I'm not the only one who couldn't seem to stay put." Then she turned and held out a hand to Van. "You must be Van Slanzar de Fanel, the King of Fanalia." He took her hand and bowed over it instead of a more familiar shake. 

Then Riu held Darcy's hand up to his lips and kissed it. "Have you had time to ponder my proposal? I think you should be able to stay on Gaea now, Lady Hitomi has." Darcy gave Hitomi another look and noticed the pregnancy. Then she threw her arms around Riu's neck and whispered something. He laughed and spun her around again. Hitomi guessed Darcy had answered positively. The couples danced around in the snow like children.

King Duke came around the corner of a hedge and said, "What's all this racket?" He saw Darcy and Riu and his frown turned into a wide grin. "You're back! When? How? Lady Hitomi, is this your work?" Hitomi smiled and nodded her head. "I thank you to no end! Darcy! Dove-let you've returned! Oh, we must celebrate this occasion. The King and Queen of Fanalia, and four new arrivals from the Mystic Moon. Oh yes, we must celebrate!" He ran off leaving the four young people half stunned. 

The group found a bench and sat down. "Your room is just how you left it," Riu said to Darcy. "I don't think many of your old dresses will fit, but we can get you some new ones right away." She smiled at him thankfully.

Van helped Hitomi take a seat on his lap so she could lean back against him. Darcy rested her head on Riu's shoulder. "Where did you get your pendant?" Hitomi asked. It was an innocent enough question, with hidden meaning. She was certain Darcy was the one they needed, but still needed to be sure sure.

Darcy fingered it and noticed Hitomi's pendant. She smiled down at it and said, "I had a dream with this pendant in it one night, when I woke up it was in my hand. I haven't taken it off since." She let it go. "Why do you ask? Do you want it?"

Hitomi held up a hand. "No, no, I was just wondering if you were truly the person we came all the way out here to find." Riu held Darcy's hand protectively and Darcy frowned. "You see, a few months ago we retrieved an energist with wishing powers from the Gous desert and have been put in charge of destroying it or containing it. All of our research has pointed towards these pendants and their owners renewing the power that the people of Atlantis used to bring Gaea into existence. This deed we hope will purify the power left on Gaea and eliminate the energist."

Riu looked fascinated, Darcy looked confused. "You mean, I'm one of the people who's going to save the planet?" Hitomi and Van nodded. "Oh brother, and I was hoping for a quiet life." Hitomi laughed and Van smiled. Riu grinned at Darcy.

"Believe me, when you're Queen of Basram, your life will be many things, and none of it quiet," Riu said. Darcy blinked.

"That's right, I marry you I become a queen. That honestly never occurred to me."

Hitomi smiled and said, "You'll get used to it. Just attach yourself to the housekeeper's hip for a few months and you'll do fine." Van made a snorting noise and Hitomi looked at him. "What? I've been doing a fine job so far. And I grew up expecting to only have to deal with my family's meals and cleaning a house, not managing servants all over a castle."

Darcy grinned and asked, "What country are you from, Hitomi?"

Hitomi blinked in surprise. "Japan, why do you ask?" Darcy looked surprised. "Let me guess, you can't figure out why you understand me." She nodded. "I don't know. I suspect it's something about Gaea's effect on people so they can communicate no matter what language they're speaking. We have strange accents because we're actually speaking languages completely different from their own. We can also read the ancient Draconian texts and things that they can't without intense study."

Darcy laughed. "And here I thought I'd have to learn five other languages to be a good queen. What a relief. I wonder why it isn't this easy on Earth? It would solve so many problems." She and Hitomi sighed. Earth was a chaotic mess of cultures, and communication was a worldwide epidemic.

They ended the conversation on a more positive note, lunch, and went to find some. The palace seamstress kidnapped Darcy for the afternoon, with Hitomi in tow making suggestions and comments.While they were outside, Riu's arms had kept Darcy warm, a service her new clothes would hopefully render. Hitomi had been wearing layer upon layer of clothing, making her look slightly plump. _Chalk one up for maternal nerves,_ Darcy thought.

Riu announced his and Darcy's engagement two days later at a small dinner party. King Duke had no objections whatsoever, and expensive wine was poured to celebrate. It took some prodding, but Hitomi and Van managed to convince King Duke to let Riu and Darcy visit Fanalia for a few weeks prior to the wedding, for which they would return to Basram.

The whole group headed out a month after Hitomi and Van and the others had arrived. The trip took over a week, and caused some of Van's advisors to grow a few more white hairs. Ever since Hitomi had gotten pregnant they'd been worried about everything. Should she ride? Should she travel? Should she be allowed out of doors during the winter? Hitomi had answered that for them by going on this trip. With about a month to go, she wasn't too worried. Van felt that she would have been worse than the advisors if they hadn't been so clingy. It made her rebel.

Anyway, the trip had been very successful. The King of Basram was now a close friend and avid supporter of Fanalia's monarchs. Van knew he could count on Basram for assistance if he should need it, and Basram would receive Fanalia's help if needed. Nothing had been written formally because there was no need. The politics had become a silent understanding between friends without official strings attached.

The castle was teaming with servants when they arrived. Van had only just helped Hitomi out of the carriage when the captain of the guard came running out and bowed saying, "My King, we have disturbing news. Someone broke into your personal vault a few nights ago and took the energist. We don't know who or exactly when." Van and Hitomi traded pale looks and rushed through the corridors and hallways and stairways to the study. The door was wide open, the room as it had been when the servant had discovered it. Hitomi waked slowly to the vault behind the bookcase and touched it.

She stiffened, and Van rushed to her side to hold her up. Hitomi's eyes went out of focus and she watched the crime take place. A woman dressed in tight and dark clothing skillfully opened the window and slipped in without a sound. She walked right up to the bookcase and pulled it aside to reveal the safe. With only a minimum of tampering she got it open and removed the box with the energist. Then she pushed some papers of the desk, removed a few books to lay down in a quiet mess on the floor and left back through the window. 

Hitomi blinked and saw Van looking down at her, worried. "It was a woman, a very skilled thief. She messed up the room and left right after. She was either being paid enough that she didn't need to take anything else, or she just wanted the energist."

Van helped her get back on her feet and together they straightened their papers and the books. Then they sat down and stared out the window. How could this have happened? They were so close to dealing with the problem. Then Hitomi said, "If the pendants purify all of Gaea, it shouldn't matter where the energist is." Van sighed, she was probably right, but he didn't want to be the one to tell the other kings and ruling dukes that the energist had been stolen. There was no getting around it; they would want him to go after it.

"Could you dowse for it, Hitomi? Like you did the first time?" he asked. She looked at him in surprise.

"You're not going to try to go after it are you?" she asked, horrified at the thought of him going off and leaving her alone with the baby due soon. 

Van just stared out the window at the fading sun and said, "I have to appease politics. First comes the energist. I give it a try, then come home and tell those who need to know. We don't want a panic, and I need to keep the other countries happy by saying I tried. It shouldn't take long."

Reluctantly, Hitomi agreed. She pinpointed the energist along the shore of Erchras, due East of Fanalia. Van organized the expedition so it could set out the following morning. He was up and gone before Hitomi, and she missed him from the moment she woke to find his side of the bed empty. 

----

For a week she forced herself to be cheerful and to entertain her guests. She spent most of her time with Lika, who did not have a sweetheart to whisk her away into serious conversation or to dream over. Hitomi found her mind during their talks wandered to Van. He had notified the King of Erchras of the situation the same day he set out, and Hitomi received a message from Yoii (Who had insisted on going) saying they had received permission to enter Erchras and reclaim the energist. 

At the end of the week, Yoii failed to give her his daily message to assure her all was well. By sunset, Hitomi was in a panic. The midwife pleaded with her to calm down for the baby's sake, and only then did she stop having hysterics. Riu insisted on recruiting some men to go help Van. Naturally, the women objected, but the men left anyway. Merle disappeared right after, and everyone could guess where she had gone.

Lisa also got a jolt when word came that Alan and the _Crusade_ had gone to help. Hitomi dowsed for the energist again and found it exactly where it had been before. Then she dowsed for Van and found him where the energist was. Was he Okay then? Why hadn't Yoii sent her any news yet? 

The answer arrived two weeks after Van had left. Yoii rode in on a weary horse, streaked with dust and dirt. Hitomi ran outside as fast as her altered shape could allow. "Where's Van, Yoii? And the others? Are they all right?" she felt like she couldn't get her questions out fast enough. 

Yoii looked angry, furious. "Whoever it is that has the energist knows what they're doing. Everyone is caught in these giant red globes, frozen. I got out because my pendant started to glow and it melted the red crystal into jelly. I think we know what that vision of your means, now."

Lisa gasped. "What about the others? Alan, Riu, Merle?"

Yoii froze. "Merle? _Merle_ went out there?!" 

Hitomi grabbed his arms before he could go ballistic and said, "Follow me, we'll dowse and find out if everyone else is caught there as well."

They went to the map room and Hitomi pulled out the map of Erchras she had been using. She held her pendant above it and swung it back and forth. Then it froze over the same spot where the energist was. The others looked at Hitomi hopefully. Hitomi dropped the pendant on the map in her astonishment and said, "They're trapped, they're _all trapped_."

The five people from the Mystic Moon were frozen in time. Their loved ones were caught. They were not safe, they were in danger. Why? This couldn't be happening. _No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!_

Hitomi and the others ran as one to the roof. Startled servants and guards jumped out of the way of the rampaging group. They held their pendants in their hands. "Come on, come on!" Lika said to her pendant. "Glow! Do something!" They burst out into the air and stood on the edge of the castle battlements, glaring at their pendants in frustration.

Then the pendants did glow, and Hitomi felt an itch. She frowned and continued to concentrate on her pendant. The others were looking strained, too. Why did her back itch so much? Then she heard cloth ripping. And she felt her dress tighten across her chest and then she felt a release. Golden wings sprung from her back. Gold! Metallic gold wings fashioned like the Draconians. Hitomi stared at the gold feather that fell onto her palm. 

She looked around, and saw the others had wings, too. They all stared at each other. Then Yoii faced East and said grimly, "Let's go." He didn't need to say anymore. They took off from the roof. People below stared and pointed. Golden Draconians! The group flew with all speed along the coast. Hitomi felt her baby kick. She faltered a moment, thinking it might not be good exercise for the baby, then shook her head and continued. Nothing was going to happen to her and Van's baby. It would be fine. Now she needed to worry about Van.

They flew faster than Hitomi thought ought to be possible, then they saw the cove ringed with giant red crystals. The _Crusade_ was landed a mile or so back, and motionless. They swooped down and landed on the beach. Suddenly, they were stuck fast in red rock. Hitomi couldn't move, she felt her baby kick furiously. Then she _could_ move, and she shoved her way out. Yoii caught her as she left her red prison. The others gathered round.

Hitomi held up her pendant and said, "Let's get this over with and go home." The others nodded and took up positions around her. Yoii with the green pendent stood to the North, Lisa with the white pendant was to the South. Lika with the blue pendant stood to the West, and Darcy with the yellow pendant stood to the East. They were about to hold out their pendants when an arrow shot right by Hitomi's ear. 

They all turned and Hitomi saw the woman who had stolen the energist. Her face was horribly scarred; her black eyes were filled with hate. Even her blond hair, which could have been considered a gorgeous color, was a mess. She carried a crossbow. "You! You dare to try to ruin my dream!" she said to Hitomi. Hitomi backed up a step, then stood firm. She wouldn't show any fear to this hag.

The woman came closer, a loose arrow in one hand. "I thought if I killed the king you would stay away, never come back. But he lived, and brought you here at the same time!" She put the arrow on the bow and snapped it into place. "They say the five travelers from the Mystic Moon will save it, but I don't want this damned world to be saved! I'm going to take everyone with me in the end!" She aimed and shot at Hitomi again. The shot missed. The woman screamed and threw down the bow. She charged at Hitomi, but hit an invisible wall between Yoii and Lika. The woman fell back. Then she fumbled in her pockets and Hitomi knew what she was trying to get at.

Hitomi held up her pendant. The others held up theirs, and a light golden glow began to rise around them. It swirled like a mist around Hitomi's legs, gathering around and growing denser. Then the others sprouted their wings once again, and took off like rockets in the four cardinal directions. The golden mist followed them in four huge waves. 

The woman shrieked as the energist burned a hole through her clothes to fall to the ground and shatter like glass. Hitomi and the pendant glowed gold, her wings spread slowly as the others covered more and more of Gaea with the healing mist. Then the woman stood, shaking. Hitomi could barely see her through the mist, but she did hear the woman's fanatical cry as she charged toward the unguarded queen. Hitomi's wings closed around her in an impenetrable gold shell. The woman clawed and fought to get through, but could not. She fell back, and Hitomi opened her wings to let the last of the gold mist out as her wings spread to their fullest. 

Darcy, Lika, Lisa, and Yoii all came back from the opposite directions they had gone in. They landed and encircled Hitomi with their wings. _Just look at us_, Hitomi thought, smiling proudly. _We're grinning like idiots and it's all Okay, because we just saved the world. It's a nice feeling_. Then they all fell into the gold mist.

All they could see was white and bright light. When it cleared they were standing in a large throne room. Everything was made of white marble and touched with gold. An old man sat on the golden throne and said in a booming voice, "You have used my gifts well, now you must choose what form to take."

Yoii frowned. "What form?"

The old man said, "Every man, woman, and child who left Atlantis for Gaea was used to using their will to shift into whatever form they pleased, but on Gaea they had resolved not to do that. Some chose to look like sea creatures or live on land, some became Draconians and kept their wings, some became mer-folk. You are from the Mystic Moon, make a choice."

Lika smiled. "I'll remain human."

Lisa nodded. "Me, too."

Yoii rubbed his chin for a moment, then straightened and said, "I'd like to be one of the cat-people." The old man nodded and they all looked at Hitomi.

"Ah, you must be careful, Hitomi, for there isn't enough of the Draconian blood in you for your offspring to be like their father, but your choice may change that." Hitomi truly felt the weight around her girth then. She put protective arms around her middle.

"I want to be a Draconian, like Fanalia's queen should be," she said. He nodded, and raised a hand to dismiss them. Then Hitomi thought of something and held up a hand, "Wait!"

"What is it? Do you wish to reconsider your choice?" He was patience itself. 

Hitomi shook her head. "No, but, I was wandering, are the Draconians really cursed? If what you say is true, than everyone on Gaea is descended from Atlantis and cursed."

The old man shook his head. "The only curse is that the Draconian people remained in Atlantis and the Mystic Valley after its fall. When they emerged, the people accused them of trying to go back to the old ways. That is how the curse came about."

She sighed and bowed as far as her distended middle allowed. "Thank-you." The old man lifted a hand, and threw it down. The gold mist rose and the throne room disappeared.

----

"Hitomi? Hitomi? Hitomi!" Van cried. He and the others had watched in awe as she and the others from the Mystic Moon had arrived using shining wings. Then the others had flown off to spread the mist and left her alone. Thankfully she'd been able to protect herself, but when the crystals had shattered with the energist, there hadn't been enough time to reach the beach before Hitomi and the others with their golden wings dissolved into mist. Then they'd reformed, but slightly different. 

Hitomi opened her eyes and saw Van's scared face above hers. She blinked and sat up. He helped her to her feet. "I feel like a cramped hatchling," Hitomi muttered, and she stretched with a yawn. The soldiers gasped when golden wings sprung from her back through her tattered dress. She looked back and said, "I think I'm going to need a new dress." Then Yoii moaned and she went over to him.

Indeed, he was now a cat-man. Merle edged forward slowly, her eyes wide. Hitomi helped her little brother stand, using her wings for balance. He yawned and stretched. A tail popped out from the seat of his pants. Merle yipped for joy and jumped on him, throwing him back down on the ground. "Ouch," he said with a mischievous smile, not really meaning it.

_I don't know if I can get used to that_, Hitomi thought. Then she thought of her poor parents and chuckled. Alan helped Lisa to her feet. Hitomi noticed him checking her for wings and cat ears. When Lisa yawned and nothing came out of hiding, he smiled and gave her good long kiss. Gaddes and the other soldiers hooted. 

Hitomi just stood in Van's arms. To kiss would be a bit too awkward with her stomach in the way. Then she felt something trickle down her legs and her stomach cramped. She bent over slightly and moaned. Everything stopped. Then she half collapsed as the next contraction took her. Her wings were retracted back into her smooth back, so Van picked her up. Without a second thought, he removed his shirt and spread his own wings, flying with great speed back towards Fanalia. 

He made it in plenty of time. He had to pace for a couple hours outside of the bedroom while nurses rushed in and out. Once in a while he would hear Hitomi cry out, and his heart would lurch at the sound, then he'd walk faster telling himself she was getting the best help she could. She was the Queen of Fanalia, this child would probably be the heir, and no one was skimping on this birth.

Then, just after he had finished a hasty dinner—his first meal in days—the shouting stopped and he heard an infant wailing. A second later it grew louder. It took all his willpower to keep himself from running through the door. Was Hitomi all right? Was it a boy or a girl? Was the baby all right? The door opened and the midwife nodded to him. He dashed inside. The nurses were pulling up the sheets around Hitomi. Her hair stuck to her forehead, and he could see a few golden feathers lying about. 

Hitomi looked up and saw Van enter. She smiled and jiggled the little bundles she was holding. "We have twins, Van," she said, her voice sort of breathy. He looked down in surprise. "A boy and a girl, our daughter is the older one, though." Van hesitantly took the boy from Hitomi and looked down at the little face.

Dark green eyes looked up at him, trustingly. Van smiled down at the little boy and he smiled back, showing plenty of his gums. He heard baby laughter coming from the baby girl Hitomi held. "What are we going to name them?" Hitomi asked.

Van looked at Hitomi, then at the babies. "How about Volkan and Varie?"

Hitomi looked up in surprise. "Wasn't Varie your mother?" He nodded. She looked at the baby in her arms and smiled. "Varie it is, then. I know what Volkan is based on, and I think it's a wonderful name." The proper papers were signed, and announcements made. There was quite a celebration. When the weary warriors made it back form Erchras, they found the city drinking blessings to its new prince and princess.

"Twins?" Yoii said. Hitomi looked up to find her friends standing in the doorway. She smiled and put Volkan back in the basket. 

"Come see your niece and nephew, Yoii." He and Merle leaned over the side of the baskets and went, "Awwwe." 

Lisa and Alan came over next, Hitomi held up Volkan for them to see. At Lisa's request, Hitomi handed him over, carefully folding her friend's arms in the correct position. Then she picked up Varie just in time to show her off to Lika . Then Darcy and Riu brought up the rear. They were all so focused on the babies that no one noticed the first, "Excuse me?" Hitomi just happened to turn toward the doorway and see her mother and father waiting there. Her mother looked only a tad older than when she'd seen her last, and her father looked much stronger with arms like a lumberjack. She rushed over and gave them a big hug. 

Seeing her rush away made everyone turn. Yoii and Merle came forward, each holding one of the babies. "They're Volkan and Varie, Mom," Hitomi said. Mrs. Kanzaki held the little girl and looked up with a frown. 

"Varie and Volkan, did you say? What strange names." Everyone shuffled his or her feet, awkward at the woman's ignorance.

Alan cleared his throat and said, "Varie was Van's mother, and Volkan is a variation on Folken, who was Van's older brother." Everyone was somber. They knew about the tragedies that had ruled Van's life The Kanzakis caught on and looked at the babies with new respect. Then Van came in, all smiles, and the oppressive atmosphere was lost and the people played with the babies until they were ready for a diaper change.

It was then that Mr. Kanzaki noticed something different about his son's appearance. "Yoii, what heck did you do to yourself..?"


	6. Epilogue

::Quick closing and thank-you to my reviewers and readers::

Everyone, with the exception of Hitomi and Yoii's parents, went to Basram for the weddings. At Darcy and Riu's wedding reception, Alan and Lisa announced their engagement. Selena and Lisa had become great friends, and Lisa moved in with her soon to be sister-in-law in Austuria. Hitomi and Van got to show off their newborns at the wedding of Darcy and Riu. 

Then everyone went back over the mountains for Merle and Yoii's wedding. A week after everyone had left to go home, Hitomi realized how empty the halls were. Millerna had warned her that she had to start preparing to hold parties that winter or she'd go out of her mind with boredom. Imagining how anyone married to someone as eccentric as Dryden could get bored gave Hitomi headaches, but she took heed of Millerna's warning and asked Van about it. He thought it was a great idea.

Everyone was off married, with a few exceptions, and Hitomi had the twins to keep her busy when they weren't napping. Van was making waves in the building of Fanalia's strength and prestige as a country. Whatever the golden mist had done, it had certainly gotten rid of a lot of the anxiety and ill will in Gaea. That fall, Hitomi sent out the invitations to noble families along the border and to every monarch she knew personally. 

In a few weeks almost everyone had written back, either giving their apologies or their acceptance. Hitomi hadn't planned on half of the people accepting, and was pleased when one fourth came back positive. She prepared, and got everything organized so it would run smoothly once the guests arrived. Things didn't start that smoothly, because an early blizzard closed many of the mountain passes into Fanalia. Eventually everyone arrived safely, including the most anticipated guest, Duke Chid. The young reigning Duke of Freid arrived by air ship and was quite impressed with Van's progress in securing Fanalia for the winter.

The thirteen-year-old duke was also quite taken with Van and Hitomi's two children. He would play with them for hours, and that gave Hitomi time to attend to other things that required her attention. For example, half of the chickens that had been selected to feed the guests for the final bash died before the end of the year. She made hasty arrangements to have enough, but no one would be able to count on seconds.

When the new year began, Hitomi breathed a sigh of relief, looking forward to the quiet spring and summer ahead. The guests left when the passes opened, and Hitomi said good-bye to her new and old friends. That spring the twins turned one, and the whole family had a quiet little celebration with Hitomi's parents, Merle, and Yoii. 

"They're a full year old, now, and walking," Hitomi said that night, her head resting on Van's shoulder as they lay in bed. 

Van chuckled. "Don't forget running, yelling, and grabbing everything in sight and trying to eat it." He sighed and said, "So, when do you want to have more?"

Hitomi smiled slyly and said, "I don't think we have a choice." Van laughed and held her up against him in a tight embrace. "This one is due right before the end of the year."

"Just don't give birth in the middle of the dance floor."

"Oh, don't worry. I don't think I'm up to arranging another party season quite yet." 

In late spring, Merle, Yoii, Van, Hitomi, and the twins went to Austuria for Lisa and Alan's wedding. The ceremony was held in a grand church that had just been refurnished. It was strewn with flowers and ribbons, and Lisa looked _gorgeous_. The woodcutter and his wife were there, and so were Lika, Riu, King Duke, Darcy, and everyone who was anyone. Hitomi and Van met with some of the people who had attended their parties the previous year, all of whom said they'd told everyone they knew about it and couldn't wait for the invitation to come this year! Hitomi fell into bed that night and said, "I'm doomed! Just give me five years to come up with some good entertainment ideas I haven't already used!"

Van took off his shirt. "Just arrange a new theme for each party, have the people dress up. Use some of the party tactics you use on the Mystic Moon." Hitomi thought about it for a few days, and realized it could work. When they returned home she sat down and brainstormed. She sent out the invitations, this time they made the main feature a 'lock in.' From the first snows until the passes cleared, their guests would be immured in Fanalia unless there was an emergency. It asked for the guests to bring five costumes. They could dress up as whatever they wished as long as each of the five was different. At least one had to be in bright colors.

That winter showed a precedent for many winters afterwards, each year the King and Queen of Fanalia would send out invitations to certain people to join them for the winter. Every year the first ball was a costume party, and everyone wore masks to make themselves anonymous. These were loads of fun for the adults, because everyone knew who everyone else was anyway, but it was fun to pretend. The orange and black decorations and witch's broomsticks were strange at first, but Gaea adapted to this strange holiday of Halloween.

Hitomi gave birth on New Year's Eve to a beautiful little boy. They named him Varun. After Varun came a girl, Minami, two boys, Nishi and Higashi, and then another girl, Kita. Then Hitomi and Van decided they had enough, seven was a good number. All seven were Draconians, but there seemed to be a slight twist from the normal Draconian coloring. Van's wings were white, as were every other Draconian's, but Hitomi's were gold, and Varie's and Kita's were gold. The boys all had silver wings, and Minami as well. The royal family out for a picnic was quite a sight. The children would all stretch their wings and maybe Hitomi and Van would follow, playing tag and catch in the air. It was considered good luck to find one of their feathers in the forest. School children would keep them with their other treasures to show off. 

Life was golden.

::Hehe, I know, that's a lot of kids, but they're trying to rebuild a country here! ^_~ Anywho, that's the quick wrap-up. My original ending was horrible *gags* and then the second one that I posted with the story the first time was ok. If you read the first version, then this ending is very familiar. What can I say? I love happy endings::


End file.
